Conditional jockey Paul O'Brien beamed from ear to ear after his first winner under Rules, the Donald McCain-trained Mulligan's Man at Perth.
The 20-year-old Cork-born rider joined McCain earlier this year and having enjoyed his first ride in a bumper a few weeks ago, was given the opportunity to partner 1-2 favourite Mulligan's Man in the opening Better Prices On Betfair Mobile Novices' Hurdle in Scotland.
Unbeaten in three starts since being snapped up by McCain for £20,000 at Cheltenham Sales in May, Mulligan's Man travelled powerfully throughout and moved up to challenge market rival Benefit Of Youth between the last two flights.
O'Brien could have been forgiven for getting a little excited as he eyeballed Richard Johnson, but the youngster remained cool in the saddle and pushed his mount out after the final obstacle to score by eight lengths.
"Paul came to me in February having been recommended to me by someone in Ireland and he's a good lad who works hard," said McCain.
"He has plenty of point-to-point experience and he rides this horse every day, so it was ideal to let him ride today with the double penalty and it's worked out grand.
"He had his first ride for me in a bumper a few weeks ago and I think he'd be good value for a 7lb claim, never mind 10lb.
"The horse has done everything right. He isn't a superstar but there are plenty of superstars who don't win many races - he's won four for us already and I'm sure there are more days in him.
"Paul schooled him over fences the other week as I was half thinking it might be difficult to win with a double penalty, but he's gone and done it, so we'll just play it by ear with him.
"He'd been running for a good while in point-to-points before he joined us so we'll give him a good winter break and then bring him back in the spring."
McCain completed a double as 5-2 shot Indepub claimed the Check Betfair Before You Bet Juvenile Hurdle.
Third Half was the odds-on favourite, but Jason Maguire got his fractions spot-on from the front and Indepub out-sprinted his opponent to wrest the spoils by three and a quarter lengths.
The winner carries the colours of former trainer David Barker.
McCain said: "It was magic to see him win as David hasn't been very well. He sent me a message after the race and he's chuffed to bits.
"The horse is a tough little thing and jumps well, so we'll have to see how far we can go with him."
It was an excellent afternoon for Maguire, who notched his 50th winner of the season on Gordon Elliott's Esporao (4-5 favourite) in the claimer and followed up on Definite All Star (7-2) for the same yard in the novices' handicap chase, before completing his hat-trick.
Elliott also left one of his favourite haunts with a treble after Tony McCoy guided the gambled-on 13-8 favourite Bondage to land the Bet With The Dewhurst Ring Bookmakers Handicap Hurdle.
The feature event of the day was the Sodexo Prestige Handicap Chase, which went the way of Karen McLintock's 3-1 favourite Nodforms Violet in the hands of Brian Hughes.
