Dessie Hughes' Canaly set himself up for a tilt at one of the major festivals when bringing up his hat-trick at Gowran in the Mullinavat Novice Hurdle.
Following wins at Fairyhouse and Naas he was sent off at a surprising 8-1, partly due to the presence of odds-on favourite Shot From The Hip
It was The Bull Hayes who gave him most to do, however, but Bryan Cooper drove him out for a three-length win.
"Canaly is a nice horse who is stepping up the ladder all the time. He'll probably go to Punchestown next, but he'll hardly take in Fairyhouse too as they are so close together," said Hughes.
"He'd prefer two and a half miles when stepped up in class and, being by Bob Back, has a preference for better ground."
Gordon Elliott's Eight Is My Number landed a gamble after being backed from 11-4 into 6-4 for the Inistioge Maiden Hurdle.
Paul Carberry never had one moment of worry on the embryonic chaser and the pair cruised home for a seven-length win.
"Eight Is My Number is a real old fashioned type of horse and will make a smashing chaser next season. He'll have one more run over hurdles, in a & pound;10,000 race at Perth in three or four weeks' time," said Elliott.< Abbey Glen (4-1 favourite) followed up a recent win at Navan in the Thomastown Handicap Hurdle for Christy Roche and Alan Crowe.
The lightly-raced seven-year-old won by a length and a quarter.
"It's great to get another win with Abbey Glen seeing as he was off so long earlier in his career," said owner JP McManus' racing manager Frank Berry.
"Better ground seems to have made the difference with him and he came out of his Navan win so well we decided to run here. We weren't sure about him staying three miles but he saw it out."
