Willie Mullins' Sir Gerhard won on his chasing debut at Gowran Park on Thursday but his Cheltenham odds remained unchanged.
The eight-year-old had only two rivals to deal with in the Daly Farrell Chartered Accountants Beginners Chase but it looked like the fences would be his main threat from very early on.
It was the last fence first time around that gave him the most problems as he ploughed through the top under Paul Townend but the partnership remained intact and that was the end of the scares.
The 1/6 favourite jumped well in the main on the final circuit to run out a 38-length winner, with Largy Debut walking home after his own final-fence error.
The Ballymore Novices' Hurdle winner has a plethora of entries heading into the spring, but Betfair and Paddy Power left him unchanged at 6/1 for the Turners Novices' Chase, while he was pushed out to as big as 14s for the Sporting Life Arkle.
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"He didn't impress me for the first mile and a half so I didn't know what to think," Mullins said. "The mistake, I think he stood off, and he didn't realise he wasn't going as fast as he used to go over hurdles.
"Paul said he thought he was on a schooling day, he wasn't racing. He picked up well from three out and the final bit was impressive.
"The race at Navan is too soon for Cheltenham, he wouldn't recover in time. He'll probably go off today's run. You'd probably think the three-mile Brown Advisory [will be his Cheltenham target], but anyway, you know me! He has to come out of that race first."
Sky Bet go 8/1 Sir Gerhard for the Brown Advisory.
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