Hereia winning under Danny Mullins© Photo Healy Racing
Hereia (14/1) made all to land the Railway Bar 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle in Roscommon, under Danny Mullins for Andrew Slattery.
The son of Olympic Glory didn't win in five races on the Flat but raced with a handy advantage throughout this first juvenile hurdle of the season.
The lead was reduced by 15/8 favourite Harvest Bow on the run-in but he was still a length and a quarter in arrears at the line.
The gambled-on Global Freedom (16/1 to 10/1) was another three and a quarter lengths away in third.
Andrew Slattery said: “The whole time he was running on the Flat the ground was too quick for him, so we had this planned a long time ago.
“He’s plenty of schooling done and he always jumped well. He’ll go to Listowel now for the winners of one and see where we end up. He did what we expected to be honest.
“Danny said he was idling a bit in front and said he’d like something to bring him on at a better gallop. He’ll keep galloping on soft ground.
“We’ll see later on whether he has the class of the better ones. He’d prefer something to give him a lead but he likes to get on with it.”
Additional reporting by Alan Magee