The greatest compliment you could pay Paul Townend was that his front-running success aboard Royal Rendezvous (5/1 favourite) in the Tote Galway Plate had all the hallmarks of his predecessor, Ruby Walsh.

Townend dictated things with confidence at the head of affairs as a year-long plan for Willie Mullins’s nine-year-old came to fruition, having finished runner-up in the €250,000 feature 12 months ago.

The Cork rider has handled his promotion to No 1 rider at Mullins’s powerful Closutton yard in his own understated manner and a second triumph – 10 years after his first on Mullins’s Blazing Tempo – left him with bragging rights in his friendly rivalry with Walsh.

“I didn’t think I was getting that old and it’s nice to have one over on Ruby, he never won it for Willie,” the 30-year-old quipped. “I hadn’t planned to make all but when he was enjoying and jumping so well I left him there.”

Mullins, who also saddled the second home, with Easy Game (28/1) running a belter under Bryan Cooper, was always confident Royal Rendezvous could go one better as he became the first winner to carry more than 11-0 since Ansar in 2005.

“You could even see it in him before the race,” Mullins said. “The dapples in his coat, he was like a horse getting ready for the Dublin Horse Show rather than coming here. He just looked a picture for the last three weeks at home.

“I was counting down the days and hoping we might have a bit of luck. It all worked out.

“Last year he was just unlucky, he got knocked down on the bend coming up the hill. He was rated 7lb higher this year but he’s improving. He’s a late developer.”

Henry de Bromhead has another good mare on his hands after Annie G (7/2) made it back-to-back victories when landing the Listed Novice Hurdle in good style under a front-running ride from Darragh O’Keeffe.

Honeysuckle, who will stay over the smaller obstacles and defend her Champion Hurdle crown next year, is the star turn at De Bromhead’s Waterford yard but Annie G has a bright future, having accounted for the geldings when scoring by eight lengths.

“She’s a really exciting mare who’s progressing all the time. She won’t go over fences for a while, she has a full novice season ahead of her and there’s plenty of good mares’ novice hurdles ahead of her,” De Bromhead said.

Abbey Magic (11/1) made it a 53/1 double for De Bromhead when scoring in a later chase under Sean Flanagan, while there will hardly be a better celebrated winner all week than the locally-trained Shanwalla (16/1) after his handicap hurdle success.

The father-and-son team of Paul and Jack Gilligan was greeted with pre-pandemic exuberance – albeit with face masks – as the latter steered him home before declaring that a Ballybrit triumph is “like riding a winner at Cheltenham” for the Athenry native.

Shane Crawley enjoyed a poignant success in the opening mares handicap hurdle, with Nodoubtaboutthat (12/1) coming home best under emerging rider Tom Kelly on a dark day for her owners, The Who What Why Syndicate.

“The syndicate aren’t here as one of the members, Michael Griffin, buried his mother Mary Griffin this morning. It was a very special win and it’s an emotional day for all of them,” the Meath trainer said.

Desir Du Large (9/4) has been keeping esteemed company this season and Joseph O’Brien’s charge took advantage of the significant drop in class to break his duck over hurdles under Shane Fitzgerald.

It was a particularly special day for the Townend family, as younger sister Jody took the mares’ bumper on Mullins’ second-string Memorable Daise (11/2), while the finale went to Joseph O’Brien’s Level Neverending (9/2) after a powerful steer from Tom Hamilton denied Emmet Mullins’s Merlin Giant (11/10 favourite) in a thriller.