Penhill had too much in his locker for stablemate Bel Sas in the Sean T. McElligott Memorial Novice Hurdle at Listowel.

Bel Sas took the field along but was picked off at the second last by Penhill who then asserted coming to the final flight.

He cleared that and strode away under Ruby Walsh to win by seven lengths from fellow 2/1 co favourite Bel Sas. This gave Willie Mullins a one-two in the race.

The other 2/1 co favourite, All The Answers was beaten 13 lengths into third by the winner.

Ruby Walsh said: "The penny is starting to drop on him. He jumped a lot better today. There's room for improvement but he's a horse probably with a fair bit of ability. If we can just get him jumping quicker and slicker he'll be better.

"He lost his confidence a bit early on at Galway and took a long time to get jumping. We've done a lot of work with him since and his jumping was much better and he's not a bad horse.

"I got to the front and there was a very big jump there (at the second last) and I was thinking I don't really need it. I should have had the race won so I left him to fiddle it. He was good.

"The second horse (Bel Sas) likes to gallop and jump and he was getting a few lengths on me at most of the hurdles but Penhill probably has that bit more ability so I was able to hang in to him jumping-wise."

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes