Willie Mullins' High City Roller (15/8f) left his debut in the rear-view mirror when he obliged in the Athea INH Flat Race at Limerick.

He came in a beaten favourite in a tailed off seventh in a Clonmel bumper in March when eased.

It was a different story today as he made good headway under Patrick Mullins racing into the straight to close on Realistic Optimism

The five-year-old gelding was pushed along to head Realistic Optimism (6/1) coming to the final furlong and was kept up to his work to beat him by three lengths.

The pair had the race to themselves at the business end as there was a 13-length gap back to third-placed Dunleer Phoenix (4/1).

Jockey Mullins said: "He never handled the ground at all in Clonmel so we put him away and that pedigree is all good ground. He is light framed, is ground-dependent and I think he'll improve over a trip. I'd imagine he'll go hurdling now.

"Eddie Holly breeds then and two of his half-brothers (High Stakes and Tom McGreevy) won in the past month. He has had plenty winners out of the family."

Additional reporting by Tom Weekes