Appreciate It doubled his tally over obstacles with victory in the Grade One Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown.
Second to Willie Mullins stable companion Ferny Hollow in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival last season, the six-year-old has taken to timber well and despite not being foot-perfect stepped up in class on Sunday, he was simply too good for his rivals.
They included Gordon Elliott's Ballyadam, who tried to keep tabs on Appreciate It as the big two in the betting raced second and third behind Fire Attack out in front.
Appreciate It (7/4 favourite) closed the gap effortlessly turning into the home straight and by the time they approached what would have been the final flight, which was omitted due to the low sun, he had stormed into a clear lead.
Townend guided him home by nine lengths from the running-on Irascible (16/1), with Keskonrisk (16/1) third ahead of Ballyadam who had no more to offer close home.
It was a sixth victory in the race for Mullins and a Grade One double on the day for the jockey and trainer, who earlier combined with another wide-margin winner in Chacun Pour Soi in the Paddy's Rewards Club Chase.
Sponsors Sky Bet cut the winner to 3/1 favourite (from 14/1) for the Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham, while Betfair went 5/1 from 12s.
Mullins said: "He surprised me and impressed me. I was wondering if he was a two-and-a-half-mile horse or a two-mile horse. I know he can easily do it over two and a half, but to come back to two miles and put in a performance like that in a Grade One was impressive.
“I’d say we will go down the two-mile route now. He’s not flashy like Ferny Hollow, but he has a great cruising speed and he covers a lot of ground, which helps him to burn other horses off.
“He’ll probably have another run here at the Dublin Racing Festival.”