A modest crowd turned up on day one of the Festival, with Tisrabraq taking the featured Patsy Byrne Handicap Hurdle under Barry Geraghty.
The Frances Crowley-trained gelding steadily reeled in Akasian from the home turn, eventually scoring by a comfortable 2 1/2L.
'The soft ground helped turn it into more of a stamina test. He likes going left-handed, and we will find something for him at Listowel,' said Ms Crowley.
'He's had more setbacks than a royal marriage!' quipped trainer Eddie Lynam after Rhum Dancer, the only chaser in his stable, landed the 2m handicap chase.
Norman Williamson had the 7yo up with the pace throughout, and the gelding dug deep when headed after two out to beat Magical Way by 3/4L.
A patch of ground early in the straight caused problems for a number of horses throughout the afternoon including Gold Prospector in the 2yo maiden.
Kevin Manning's mount stumbled while in front at this point, and only failed by a short-head to Ann's Annie (Pat Shanahan) after rallying well in the closing stages.
Guignol (Derek Sttamp) enjoyed a turnaround of over 20L in form with Polish Baron compared with Cork last Friday when routing her nine rivals in the sprint handicap.
However Polish Baron (5/4-9/10f) was another leader to stumble badly before John Hayden's charge (12/1 but paid #37.30 on the Tote) stretched clear to beat Maghas by 7L.
'Her dam is a half-sister to Bachir, and she will go to the sales at Newmarket in December,' said Hayden afterwards.
Quality First made a successful switch to fences when prominent throughout under Tom Treacy to beat the odds-on Royal Marine by 3L in the novice chase.
Planet Clare (Fran Berry) headed Kilbride King inside the final furlong for a cosy 1 1/2L success in the mile handicap.
The concluding 1m6f maiden proved a very weak contest, with odds-on Circus Maximus cruising home unchallenged in the straight a distance clear of Prince De Loir (10/1-7/1).
