Renown (right) beating hot-favourite Sindarban© Photo Healy Racing
Sindarban was backed as if defeat was out of the question but, despite hitting an in-running low of 1/20, was collared close home by well-bred newcomer Renown in the Littlewoods Ireland Ladies Day Maiden at Wexford.
The Dermot Weld-trained three-parts brother to former Rosewell House stalwart Famous Name was noticeably weak in the market by comparison, drifting from 2/1 to 4/1 this morning and sent off a friendless 7/1 at the off.
Sindarban looked set to justify odds of 2/5 when sent on approaching the straight by Shane Foley, with Renown not surprisingly taking a while to get going on his debut.
However the Khalid Abdullah home-bred picked up really well for Pat Smullen, completing a 35/1 double on the afternoon following the earlier success of Empress Toorah to get on top in the closing stages.
A length was the winning margin at the line, with Focas Mor over four lengths further back in third.
Smullen said, "You can't beat breeding at the end of the day. He is a very laid back horse at home and he obviously stays better than his brother.
“He is a grand horse, going to the start I was really surprised with him as he showed plenty of enthusiasm and he went to the start really good.
“He was quite green during the race but he got together well and hopefully he will progress. It is great to win with him but he has to win twenty more to catch up with Famous Name!"
(Additional reporting by Donal Murphy)
