Alexander Prize is the latest off the Willie Mullins bumper horse conveyer belt and is now just a 6 to 1 shot to give the Co Carlow trainer a remarkable fourth consecutive success in the Cheltenham festival bumper in three weeks' time.
Racing in the same colours as last year's winner, Alexander Banquet, Alexander Prize made a belated debut in the last at Navan yesterday but sauntered home a very easy winner and Mullins had no hesitation about nominating Cheltenham as his next target.
Mullins, who also won the big festival pot with Wither Or Which and Florida Pearl, said: "We have been waiting all year for him and he has come right at the right time. He is a fair machine and I hope he is as good as the others.
"Robbie (Walsh) rode him out this morning and the horse was electric. The way the other horses from the yard were running was making me worried, but we have been waiting for this one. He needed to win today and I couldn't believe his price (5/1.) I told everyone who asked me to back him."
The punters instead went for Malabar, but try as that horse did, he could never get to grips with Alexander Prize, who won by 13 lengths, with a further 25 lengths back to Peerless Motion in third.
Mullins had also taken the opener with Micko's Dream, who made all to win the novice chase by a distance on ground made even heavier by persistent rain showers. Micko's Dream is in the SunAlliance Chase but is more likely to return to Navan on March 13th for the final of the EBF series.
Another trainer on the double was Noel Meade, whose Sallie's Girl, the outsider of the four runners, won the Golden Pages Boyne Hurdle.
Like most of the day's winners, Sallie's Girl thrived in being prominent throughout her race, and with Commanche Court and the Scottish-trained Birkdale fading before the straight, Sallie's Girl had too many reserves for the well-backed Derrymoyle.
"She continues to surprise me. She is in the Stayers' Hurdle and the SunAlliance but she is more likely to go to Naas on Saturday next," said Meade of the filly who landed Paul Carberry in hot water at Naas previously when he misjudged the finish.
Carberry ran out of luck later, and while Conor O'Dwyer came in for the ride on the favourite, Three Kings, in the maiden hurdle, it was the 14 to 1 Meade-trained outsider, Halfpenny Bridge, who came out best by three and a half lengths.
The stewards held an inquiry into the winner's apparent improvement in form but took no action.
Tony Martin added to his Eider Chase success at Newcastle on Saturday with Hollybank Buck when Linden's Lotto defied topweight in the handicap chase under Adrian Maguire.
