Nonchalant (right) gets the better of Kerkeni© Photo Healy Racing
Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen have been in terrific form since the new Flat season opened and they kept the ball rolling with a double from Alkasser and Nonchalant at Cork.
Alkasser blotted his copybook on debut when last of 10 in the race won by Answered at the Curragh last month, but he showed that form to be all wrong over a shorter trip in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden.
Always up with the pace, the 5-2 chance asserted going to the furlong pole and stretched clear to beat Champagne Or Water by six lengths, with the odds-on Tango Time fading after holding every chance.
The debutant Nonchalant (4-1) ran in another version of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden and edged in front late on to beat the odds-on Kerkeni by half a length after the pair pulled away in a duel through the final quarter-mile.
Jim Bolger also landed a double and there was a good deal to like about the performance of 10-1 shot Focus On Venice in the Mallow Town Summer BBQ Evening July 11th Handicap.
The three-year-old had not been seen since finishing last in the Railway Stakes at the Curragh last June, but there was no sign of ring-rustiness as he buckled down well for Kevin Manning to beat favourite Gold Peregrine by a length and a quarter.
Bolger's other success came when Fiosrach (6-1), one of a trio who built up a big lead, was kept going by Danny Redmond to hold the charging Indy Gal by three-quarters of a length in the Follow Us On Twitter Apprentice Handicap.
There was a desperately tight three-way finish to the Friday Evening Racing Handicap and it went to Wayne Lordan on David Wachman's General Brook (9-2), who nodded at the right time to beat Einsteins Folly by a short head, with Shalaman third.
Michael O'Callaghan's newcomer Rapid Applause (7-1) showed a nice turn of foot to take the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden, and Aidan O'Brien's The Islander (5-2 favourite) was an imposing winner of the Best Dressed Lady & Gent Maiden.
