'He's a nice horse. I'd say he could go up in trip' - Imagine gets chasing career off to a flyer

The opening beginners' chase was the highlight of an informative card at Fairyhouse, and it is not hard to see some punters being tempted by Paddy Power's offer of 40-1 about Imagine for the Arkle after the son of Montmartre made an impressive fencing debut.

The gelding jumped beautifully the whole way under Jack Kennedy and scored quite comfortably by two and a half lengths from the strong-staying Inothewayurthinkin. The depth of the race made the performance all the more impressive and winning trainer Gordon Elliott said: "He surprised me a bit today, I thought there would be plenty of improvement in him so it was a good performance.

"He's a nice horse and he ran to a good level in novice hurdles last year. I'd say he could go up in trip. We might look at a race like the Craddockstown at Punchestown. He'll be okay."

Elliott completed a double when 1-12 shot Absolute Notions faced a simple task against two rivals in the 2m4f conditions hurdle after his only serious rival Joyeux Machin was taken out earlier in the day. It gave one-time championship leader Danny Gilligan his first winner since the Listowel festival.

Tobar makes first trip to the well

Absolute Notions was the second leg of a double for owners Robcour, but it was the first winner of the day in those colours who set tongues wagging after the Henry de Bromhead-trained An Tobar ran out an easy winner of the 2m maiden hurdle.

An imposing son of Gentlewave, sire of Saturday's Charlie Hall Chase winner Gentlemansgame, the winner picked up smoothly between the final two flights to put the race to bed, beating the more experienced Champagne Admiral by four and a quarter lengths.

Stable representative Robbie Power said: "He's done everything very nicely at home. He had a setback last year and we had to ease off him, but he's a big horse and in the long run it might be the best thing that ever happened to him as it has given him time to develop and grow into himself.

"We were hoping he'd go and do that today and he did. We will put him in the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle here next month but he stays well and there'll be plenty of options for him."

Duggan gets his day

James Duggan will certainly remember this day, as a never-say-die attitude from horse and rider helped the veteran Glenabo Bridge home in the 2m4f handicap hurdle for trainer Oliver McKiernan.

The 21-year-old jockey said: "I rode my first point-to-point winner when I was 17 and I've been chasing the lollipop ever since. It's been tough going but I'm delighted with today. I'm based full-time with Oliver and I tip away with a few other trainers.

"I'm fairly flat out but it's great. Oliver was talking about retiring this horse but I said I'd get one more win out of him!"

Unfortunately for Duggan, the stewards took a dim view of his use of the whip, suspending him for 12 days for excessive frequency and failing to give his mount time to respond.

Read these next:

'He wants it and when a horse wants it you're three-quarters of the way there' - Thunder Rock stars for Olly Murphy

'He's definitely a Triumph Hurdle horse' - Royal Ascot hero Burdett Road dazzles on hurdles debut

Get set for the jumps! Join Members' Club now with 50% off just in time for the Big Jump Off and our brilliant stable tours