The opening Early Bird Discounted Tickets For Easter Maiden Hurdle at Fairyhouse today went to the Noel Meade trained Empire Theatre under Davy Condon, substituting for Meade's injured stable jockey Paul Carberry.

The son of King's Theatre led before the final flight, eventually running out the easy nine lengths winner over Johnnyofcourse

Condon was substituting for Paul Carberry, who sustained a bruised ankle in a fall last Sunday.

Afterwards Meade reported “Empire Theatre was close enough when he made a bad mistake at Navan last time out and its nice to have him back at his best today.”

He added “Empire Theatre would prefer slightly better ground and wants three miles. He'll go handicapping now.”