Winter Magic put in a superb round of jumping from the front under Davy Russell to take the Thurles Handicap Chase.

The Jimmy Mangan-trained gelding, whose six previous wins had been evenly divided between point-to-points and under rules, appreciated the drying ground and put in a series of spectacular leaps.

The well-backed 6/1 (from 8’s) chance stayed on strongly in the straight to beat Cappacurry Zak by two and three quarter lengths, with Soaring High over three lengths further back in third.

Mangan said, “He’s getting better and hopefully we may have an entry in the Irish National. Davy said the better ground made some difference to him as Cork was on the heavy side.

“He jumped well in Cork bar one, he clouted the third last, and Liam Burke’s horse (Sumos Novios) is a fair horse. Davy said he felt electric under him, and fired him at every fence.”