< Casey Top made a successful return to action in the feature McSweeney Arms Hotel Handicap Chase at Killarney.
The Leonard Whitmore-trained 5/1 joint-favourite had been off the scene since finishing sixth in the Munster National in October, but he didn't lack for fitness as he held the challenge of Tranquil Sea who ran a blinder under 11st 10lb, by four and a half lengths.< Won In The Dark broke a drought that stretched back more than two years in the M.D.O'Shea & Sons Hotel Hurdle.
Sabrina Harty's stable stalwart was passed by Flycorn after jumping three out, but Andrew Lynch hasn't asked for maximum effort at that point and brought the 5/2 joint-favourite to challenge again at the last.
A slicker leap took him back to the head of affairs and he won a shade cosily, by half a length.< Thynetocatcher (13/2) put her best foot forward in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Maiden Hurdle.
Successful in Listed company in a bumper last year, she hadn't taken to hurdles in four attempts but, with her sights lowered, she hit the front on the run to the penultimate flight and was kept up to her work by Declan Queally to beat Grainne Delight by three and three-quarter lengths.< Ballyadam Approach ran out an emphatic seven-length winner of the Laurels Bar (C & G) Maiden Hurdle.
The 9/4 shot showed marked improvement by filling the runner-up berth at Kilbeggan on his previous outing and, taking it up rounding the bottom turn here, confirmed that promise at the chief expense of Sir Harry Cash < Dark Raven (20/1) caught Shrapnel in the dying strides of the Keg Security Tralee Maiden Hurdle.
Shrapnel, the 11/8 market leader, appeared set for a clear-cut success when cruising into the lead but he didn't negotiate the final two flights with any conviction and lost out in a photo finish.
