Crawford has high hopes for O'Toole

O'Toole opened his account over hurdles with a comfortable success in Down Royal.

He was last seen finishing runner-up to Kilcruit no less in the Grade 1 bumper at the Punchestown Festival and his debut over hurdles was eagerly awaited.

The 4/9 favourite was sent on after the third last by JJ Slevin and kept on strongly at the business end to come in by seven and a half lengths.

Daring Rocco took the runner-up berth at 40/1 with I Don't Get It (28/1 - 18/1) back in third.

Stuart Crawford said: "He has probably grown, he's a wee bit bigger and stronger. Sure, we had to start somewhere and that was an ideal race to start on our doorstep.

"He's just a big, laidback, easy-going horse. We will just try and place him sensibly over hurdles this year.

"I really can't wait to jump fences with him but we'll not get too far ahead of ourselves.

"He will come on plenty for that and the further he goes the better he will be. He has a great temperament, in so far as he is laidback, so you can probably put him where you want to in a race.

"He had plenty of schooling done to go point-to-pointing and he is not a natural hurdler as he is probably a big clean jumper.

"I would be hoping I'd be here talking to you after the (Grade 1) James Nicholson one day.

"We will all meet up and talk about where he might end up in the spring. We know he will handle better ground but he needs a bit of experience as well.

"I'd imagine we will not be over-racing him this season. He will want a step up in trip in a higher grade. In the lower grade of race, probably the trip is not as important. When we start taking on the better horses we probably will step up in trip.

"He's in a handful of the most exciting horses certainly in Ireland this winter. He's a proper Gold Cup type of horse, I hope. He's a big staying chaser. He's not a slow horse and he will furnish more for another summer. He is improving all the time.

"We don't want to get to the bottom of him this season. He's still a big baby really. He's a horse at home you could put anyone on him to ride. He's a pleasure to train.

"Daryl Jacob got injured a week ago and he has missed out on a few of these horses to ride which is a shame for him. He has put a bit of work into them, he has been over."