William Hill quote the 7-2 winner at 12-1 for the closing Festival event on March 11, while Cashmans offer a generous 20-1.

Trainer John Kiely said: "I don't have many like him, and I hope I can keep him!

"We'll have to think forward from here and see how he comes out of the race.

"He will have learned a lot and we'll have to start thinking about Cheltenham."

McManus was also on the mark in the Leopardstown Golf Academy Hurdle as Dancing Tornado gunned down Willie Mullins' Candy Girl to deny the Irish champion trainer a seventh win at the meeting.

Ruby Walsh punched the 7-4 favourite into a clear advantage rounding the home bend, only for David Casey to emerge from between runners on the 11-4 chance and deny the Mullins team by a length and three-quarters.

McManus said: "He has to have things his own way and has been a little frustrating, but he got it right this time."

Mullins was also in contention in the following Centra Central Park Beginners Chase but Deutschland fell when leading over the final obstacle.

Nearest pursuer Askthemaster went the same way moments later which paved the way clear for 33-1 outsider Back On The Road to secure a neck verdict over Horner Woods.

Trainer Arthur Moore said: "I am pleasantly surprised, but he is a horse we have always liked.

"He ran too free over a longer trip at Down Royal last time, but that race took the fizz out of him.

"I hope he can go on from here."

A trip to Cheltenham for the David Nicholson Mares' Hurdle is on the agenda for Jessica Harrington's Give It Time after her stylish success under Andrew Leigh.

The 3-1 chance had been placed in Graded company on her two most recent outings and took this Listed event in good fashion.

Give It Time kept on gamely to pass the judge two lengths clear of Aura About You.

Harrington said: "She settled brilliantly and did that well. She was a bit long at the last but stayed on great.

"She loved the ground and Andrew said she was very effective on it.

"She will go to Cheltenham now as she stays two and a half miles well, and I doubt she will run beforehand."

Cashmans left the five-year-old unchanged at 8-1 for the Cheltenham event.

Luke McNiff rode his sixth career winner as he arrived late in the day aboard Cleni Boy to claim the Martinstown Opportunity Handicap Chase.

Fond Of A Drop appeared to have wrapped up matters after jumping the final fence, but 17-year-old McNiff stoked up the Noel Meade-trained 4-1 favourite and got up for a three-quarter-length success.

McNiff said: "He didn't jump well early on and was never really travelling.

"I kept him going and he started to jump a bit better and he made up ground down the back."

Meade later teamed up with his stable jockey Paul Carberry in the Business and Finance Maiden Hurdle as the pair cashed in with 7-4 favourite Corskeagh Royale.