Daryl Jacob from Enniscorthy put his rivals to the sword from the outset on The Listener as he galloped and jumped his opponents into the ground in the Grade 1 Lexus Chase.
It was apparent from the penultimate fence where the disputing L'Ami erred, that the grey would not easily be reeled in and so it proved as the 7/1 shot kept up a relentless pace to beat Beef Or Salmon by 8L.
The win showed how right Robert Alner was to target this event rather than the King George Chase. As for the rider, in his fourth year in England, this represented the highlight of his career.
He said, The Listener is a fantastic galloper who just loves soft ground.' Alner echoed those sentiments suggesting a Cheltenham Gold Cup bid would be very much ground dependent.
He is now as low as 10/1 and as big as 16/1 for chasing's blue riband. Defending champion, War Of Attrition, third here, gets a best-odds quote of 5/1.
Anyone in any doubt as to how good Cailin Alainn is got their answer in no uncertain terms when she impressively won the Grade 1 Powers Whiskey Novice Chase.
Runner-up to her in the Drinmore Chase, Schindlers Hunt had franked that form on the opening day of this meeting and punters were keen to trust the form book.
Cailin Alainn (2/1 into 13/8) didn't let her backers down, leading travelling well before the last, she stayed on well under pressure on the run in to comfortably beat her market-rival, Patsy Hall by 4 1/2L.
Davy Russell, aboard the mare now for her last four wins, she has actually won her last six, said afterwards, she is a fantastic girl, I have a hunter at home that would get more excited than her before a race.
She travelled an awful lot better over this three miles but she has speed too as she has shown. She is very good.' Charles Byrnes' runner is now a general 12/1 chance for the Royal & SunAlliance Chase.
Gazza's Girl was challenging still going well when she made her exit two from home. Only five of the eleven got around, other casualties being Toofarback, O'Muircheartaigh and Mossbank.
Half-an-hour later Celestial Wave struck another blow for the fairer sex in the Grade 2 woodiesdiy.com Christmas Hurdle.
Timmy Murphy made all on Adrian Maguire's brilliant 6yo, she drew clear after two out and she came home an impressive 10L in front from Sweet Kiln.
Her ante-post price for the World Hurdle now varies from between 12/1 to 16s. Timmy Murphy described this ground as obviously a help to her but not essential.
Ruby Walsh, on his first ride at the Festival, gave his supporters plenty to cheer about as the Willie Mullins-trained Candy Girl lost her maiden tag at the eighth attempt in the opener.
Available at 13/2 in the morning, the daughter of Un Desperado, returned at 7/2 (from 5s on course), led approaching the last and stayed on well to beat Farmer Brown by 2 1/2L.
Another hefty punt was landed in the second. Here, View Mount Prince, bidding for a hat-trick, was backed from 5/1 to 3/1 on track (6s in the morning) and duly did what was required under Philip Carberry.
Handled by Pat Hughes, also responsible for the aforementioned, Farmer Brown, this 5yo showed stamina to be his strong suit as he led from two out and went on to battle off all challengers.
First Row and Roger Loughran came out best in a blanket finish to the h'cap hurdle. This first time in cheek-pieces son of Daylami is trained by the in-form Dessie Hughes.
Following on from Bridge Run and Clarnazar, Gem Daly was another ex point-to-pointer to win a bumper for Noel Meade. Nina Carberry was on the French-bred.
