Racing: Farmer Brown earned himself a 40-1 quote with William Hill for next year's Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle after demolishing his rivals in the €210,000 Guinness Galway Hurdle.
The success of the gambled-on 9-2 favourite ensured a well-considered plan came to fruition for handler Pat Hughes, as Davy Russell produced a cool ride to get the six-year-old home in front.
Unsurprisingly, the 20-runner field set off at a fair lick, with Wishwillow Lord and Serve Time taking them along.
Dermot Weld's Loyal Focus, a winner at the Festival on Monday, loomed up menacingly with half a mile to run.
Farmer Brown had yet to make any serious inroads at this point, but Russell was merely biding his time and arrived on the scene with a double handful.
After kicking on just before the home turn, the pair measured the last well and cleared away to win by two and a half lengths from Richard Fahey's British raider Freeloader (16-1).
A delighted Hughes said: "I knew coming here today that he was in great form, and he had the gears on this ground.
"He had a great run on the Flat at Leopardstown and has hit his big target today. We'll have to see what we do with him in the future, but he'll be high enough in the weights now I would imagine."
Russell added: "I got a phone call about a month ago to commit to the horse and once I made it Pat was always keeping me in touch with how the horse was going.
"He told me he had been schooling really well and that he was absolutely flying. He was a bit keen in the ring, but when we got him out on the course he relaxed and he was relaxed the whole way through the race.
"He had lost his confidence a little, but Pat found two lovely races, Sligo and Killarney, and he soon got it back. A run on the Flat really sharpened him up," he said.
Prairie Moonlight earlier gave Liam Burke further cause for celebration after landing the Guinness Novice Chase by seven lengths from Smuggler's Song.
Fresh from saddling Sir Frederick to win the Galway Plate on Wednesday, Burke was on hand to cheer home his 7-1 scorer.
He said: "I was a little bit worried early in the race as she wasn't travelling as well as she can and she missed out the fence five from home.
"She was with Charlie Mann for two seasons and won a couple of races, but she is a hard horse to keep right. The owners want to breed from her so she might only have another few runs before being covered next year."
Field Commander ground out a length-and-a-quarter triumph in the St. James's Gate Novice Hurdle to land a quickfire hat-trick at odds of 5-1.
Michael Hourigan's charge stayed on well when pressed to repel Jadanli by a length and a quarter, giving Russell the first leg of a high-profile 32-1 double.
Hourigan said: "He travelled and jumped super today and he'd improved from his previous win. He'll be a nice horse for next spring. He may have another run or two, but I'd like to give the horse a break at some stage before then."