The Gerry Keane trained Askwith ran out a 3 length victory of The Saltees Island Novice Handicap Hurdle with Tom Doyle doing the steering in the colours of James Feeney.

Keane said afterwards, "We bought him out of Lesley Young's with a leg, so we fired him and left him off for a year. He had his first run back at Fairyhouse and we thought he was only 80% fit but he surprised us as to how well he ran and he has improved since then and he should improve some more. He jumps a fence well and as long as we can keep him in one piece we should have a bit of fun with him."

There was a gamble on the Tracey Collins trained Nocturnal Knight (4/1 ? 9/4) but could only manage to finish 8th.