Footsteps At Dawn rewarded connections' patience at Dundalk this evening as the Shane Nolan trained 43 rated filly won the Irishinjuredjockeys.com Handicap under jockey Conor Hoban.

The daughter of Footstepsinthesand was rated just 35 when finishing fifth at Thurles in October and today gained a first career success from 43, when beating Pari Passu by two and three parts of a length.

Afterwards Nolan said “she did it well and she's been improving with every run.

“She's taken time to come to hand but she's starting to fulfil her promise now.”

“She went down in the stalls in Bellewstown (in August) and she had been very good up until that but just frightened herself and she wouldn't load here the last day (November 9).

“It wasn't out of badness, she was just thinking about it. It was a bad experience and we couldn't load her into the horse box or anything to get her home from Bellewstown.

“She should keep improving. She might have one more run and then we'll give her a break as she's been on the go a long time.”

Quotes from Gary Carson