Ataboycharlie swung wide into the straight to land the novice handicap hurdle at Leopardstown for Eddie Cawley.

JJ Slevin came to the outside turning for home as the Make Believe gelding grabbed the lead in the two-miler.

The 17/2 shot stuck on well in the closing stages to post a length-and-a-quarter win over Woodstream Lad

“It's the dream to get one here. I definitely didn't think he could do it in his first handicap,” said Cawley.

“JJ said in the first mile the horse didn't really know what to do because they were travelling that much faster.

“The ground is fairly lively there and totally different to the ground he was running on.

“It's always very hard to win here even with an experienced handicap horse let alone a horse with no handicap experience.

“We've given lots of schooling at home as fast as we could go with him but it's totally when you are in a race.

“I think the ground suits him, no question about it, as we ran him in Naas one day on soft to heavy and he just couldn't handle it.

“I don't know where we go now. He won't get in here at the festival unless the handicapper really goes to town. I'm delighted to get that anyway.”