Road To Respect made an impressive start to the new campaign in the JNwine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal.
The Noel Meade-trained seven-year-old was narrowly beaten by fellow Gigginstown House Stud-owned runner Outlander in this Grade One contest a year ago, before enjoying his day in the sun in the Leopardstown Christmas Chase.
Meade's charge went on to finish fourth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and third in the Punchestown Gold Cup and he was the 6-4 favourite for his seasonal reappearance under Sean Flanagan.
It was not all plain sailing for the market leader as he raced a little sluggishly at the rear of the field for the first half of the three-mile contest before gradually warming to his task.
He began to make headway racing down the back straight and after taking over the lead from the front-running and eventual runner-up Woodland Opera before the home turn, Road To Respect bounded clear to seal a 16-length verdict.
Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown operation were claiming the prize for the sixth year in succession.
Meade said: "I was sort of wondering what was going to go wrong because he was going so easy.
"When he took that enormous leap at the fourth-last or fifth-last, he just jumped onto the bridle. Sean said he was off the bridle just doing nothing behind and only jumping ordinary, but he said when he picked him up, he just went onto it straight away and he was just cantering from there to the line really.
"We knew he was in tremendous form, but we have never brought him to the races as heavy - he's about 20 kilos heavier than he was at his best over the summer.
"The guys that were looking after him were fully confident that he was 100 percent, I was a little bit shaky because he was that bit heavy."
Paddy Power cut Road To Respect to 14-1 from 25-1 for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.
Snow Falcon completed a big-race double for Noel and Flanagan with victory in the MyCarNeedsA.com Chase.
A strong field of six runners went to post for this Grade Two contest, with Henry de Bromhead's Monalee the 6-4 favourite ahead of Snow Falcon and Gordon Elliott's pair of Cheltenham Festival winners in Shattered Love and The Storyteller.
It was clear from some way out only three would be involved in the finish, with Snow Falcon, Monalee and Shattered Love the contenders for victory.
However, Snow Falcon (11-4) was travelling noticeably the best and while Shattered Love made him work for it after the final fence, there was a length and a half between them at the line.
Meade and Flanagan were completing a treble on the day overall after also landing the Tayto Group Maiden Hurdle with 6-4 favourite Brace Yourself.
Golden Spear snapped a losing run dating back over two years with a clear-cut victory in the Billecart-Salmon Handicap Hurdle.
Tony Martin's charge won valuable Flat handicaps at Galway and Leopardstown in 2016, but has struggled to rediscover that level of form under both codes since.
A runner-up finish in the Cesarewitch Trial at Newmarket on his penultimate start was a step in the right direction, but having finished down the field in the Cesarewitch itself three weeks ago, he was a 12-1 shot on his return to hurdling under 7lb claimer Eoin O'Connell.
The Willie Mullins-trained Shanning was a warm order as the 13-8 favourite following placed efforts in similarly valuable races at Galway and Listowel and she took over from the front-running Scheu Time before the home turn.
However, she was powerless to resist Golden Spear in the straight, who powered clear to claim the 50,000 euro contest by five lengths.
Coeur Sublime (8-11 favourite) made a successful start to his jumping career in the opening Value Cabs 3-Y-O Hurdle for Gordon Elliott and Bryan Cooper.
Elliott said: "We think he's a nice horse. He'll come on a ton from the run. You could see he was behind the bridle the whole way and kept picking up.
"He'll go on anything if it's not the two extremes - bottomless, heavy ground or too quick. Bryan (Cooper) says it is beautiful ground there. Fairyhouse looks the obvious place to go with him. "
Elliott doubled up in the bumper with point-to-point graduate Malone Road.Carrying the colours of Cheveley Park Stud, the 4-9 favourite oozed class under Jamie Codd.
He Knows My Name was a 20-1 winner of the Rainbow Communications Handicap Chase for trainer Keith Watson and jockey Andrew Ring.
The trainer's son, Marshall Watson, said: "It's brilliant to have a winner at the festival and I'm delighted for mum and dad.
"We knew coming here she was in great form and there was a few quid on her each way at tasty prices!
"She's in Market Rasen for a Listed chase on Thursday and we'll see how she comes out of this and we'll go from there."