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Ile Atlantique powered through the wintry conditions at Naas to land the 2m Grade 2 Racing Post Novice Chase on Sunday.

Owned by Tony Bloom, the gelding had made an impressive start to his novice hurdling campaign last year before struggling to make his presence felt in drier conditions during the spring – finishing down the field in the feature novice Grade 1 hurdles at both Aintree and Punchestown.

Ile Atlantique caught the eye on chasing debut in a 2m4f contest at Navan in early December, pulling comfortably clear for a nine-length victory in a first-time tongue tie. With the tongue-tie retained, the seven-year-old produced a better round of jumping at Naas, making all and requiring little encouragement from jockey Paul Townend  to draw five-lengths clear of the second-placed Firefox on the run-in.

Speaking to RTV, Willie Mullins said: "His efficient jumping won it for him. He loves that ground and from an early stage you could see he was jumping more efficiently than everything else.

"He's matured a lot and got stronger than last year, which is a big help, and fences might just be the making of him. Paul says when he sees a fence, he measures it himself and it just seems natural to him.

"We just have to keep that improvement in him for the season. His season tapered off a bit last year and maybe it was because of the drying ground in the spring.

"He's one that we can now go two miles or two-and-a-half. We'll look at the Dublin Racing Festival and see which direction we go.

"Majborough would be in the two-mile race (Irish Arkle) and maybe he could go along with him. We have a few for the two-mile-five-furlong race, which would look the place where Ballyburn would go"

Paddy Power reacted to the victory by shortening Ile Atlantique from 20/1 to 8/1 for the Arkle Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in March, although his intended target at the Dublin Racing Festival in early February will probably offer further insight into the gelding's future.