Stepper Point, in cheekpieces, battles his way to the line© Photo Healy Racing
William Muir took the pot for the Group Two Invincible Spirit Sapphire Stakes back to Britain as Stepper Point outgunned Mecca's Angel in the Curragh.
Stepper Point (6/1) raced to the fore under Pat Smullen. The pair had Mecca's Angel and Paul Mulrennan for company on their outside in a close second.
Both horses came off the bridle with less than two furlongs to cover. The battle was fought tooth and nail the whole way from there but Stepper Point refused to yield his narrow advantage and hit the line first by a neck from the 8/11 favourite. Moviesta (6/1) kept on for third without troubling the two in front of him. He finished three parts of a length adrift of the battle for first place.
"All he had to do was come back to his old form of last year and he'd be very competitive," said Pat Smullen.
"In fairness to William and Martin they were very confident that he was coming back to something like his old self after his run at Sandown where he met interference. They were hoping for a good run.
"It was pretty straightforward. He's a very quick horse and had the rail which was vitally important so we used it to our advantage.
"The ground is drying out rapidly. I thought we'd put it up to the favourite as he might not enjoy conditions and it worked out."
This gave Smullen a double on the card as he took race two with Have A Nice Day
Stepper Point ALSO won over course and distance last September. He landed his connections 72,000 euro with this win today.
Paddy Power cut him from 33/1 to 20/1 for the Nunthorpe Stakes.
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
