Pulled up twice at the finish off of his last campaign, Chateau Conti (2s from 3s on track and from bigger earlier) started brightly for the 2017/18 season when triumphing in the www.fairyhouse.ie Hurdle. The Storyteller (5/4 favourite) got the last wrong, and Willie Mullins' charge was too strong from there under Ruby Walsh, prevailing by two and a quarter lengths.

Chateau Conti seemingly goes well fresh, this his first outing for 193 days.

"I thought The Storyteller maybe had me going to the last but he made a bad mistake and I got by him," said Walsh.

"He won well on his debut and then didn't quite build on that last year. It's a good starting point but we thought we had a good starting point last year as well and it went downhill, so time will tell how we get on.

"I don't honestly know the plan and it's the middle of the night in Australia so Willie isn't going to answer that question for us now either! (the Closutton handler saddled 3 of the 1st 10 home in the Melbourne Cup).

"It's great to win and it's a good starting point for the season anyway."

(GC & EM)