Steip Amach (far side) and Kevin Manning just getting the better of Cougar Mountain© Photo Healy Racing
< Moonlight Magic proved his Leopardstown return to be all wrong by bouncing back to form in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial Stakes at the same track.
Jim Bolger's colt lost his unbeaten record when down the field in the Ballysax but bookmakers kept him safe and he was sent off at 6-1.
He settled in third as his stablemate Saafarr set the pace but swept into the lead early in the straight and had enough stamina to repel the Ballydoyle battalion, beating Shogun by a length and a quarter, with Idaho third.
That completed a brace for Bolger and jockey Kevin Manning, kicked off by Steip Amach (14-1), who hit the crossbar in the Athasi Stakes only on Monday but proved as tough as she is classy with a determined victory in the Amethyst Stakes.< Cougar Mountain appeared the likely winner when going from last to first in the space of a furlong, but Steip Amach hadn't been asked for maximum effort and rallied well to gain the Group Three spoils by a short head.< Now Or Never was a class apart from her rivals in the Derrinstown Stud 1,000 Guineas Trial.
Kieren Fallon sent the Michael O'Callaghan-trained 13-8 favourite three wide into the lead around the turn for home and she sprinted clear, with Fallon able to ease her considerably yet still pass the post a length and three-quarters to the good over Radiantly
Aidan O'Brien's Lundy chased home Coventry Stakes favourite Caravaggio at Dundalk on debut and had no trouble going one better as the 6-5 favourite in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Auction Maiden, and his stablemate Cole Porter (4-6) landed the odds in the Bulmers Live At Leopardstown Festival Maiden.< Dont Bother Me (14-1) bounced back to his best from the front in the John R Fitzpatrick Agricultural Contractor Handicap, while Xebec was another to try to make all but was collared in the last stride by Intisari (14-1) in the Fitzpatrick Gallagher McEvoy Solicitors Handicap.
