Instrumental, left, delivers his winning move© Photo Healy Racing
Instrumental grabbed his second victory for James McAuley when driven home by champion jockey Colin Keane in the Irishinjuredjockeys.com Handicap at Dundalk.
The ex-Aidan O'Brien trained three-year-old raced over the mile he won over at Dundalk in September.
He was ridden to challenge Redstone Well on the run to the final furlong and that pair moved on from the field at the business end.
Redstone Well (11/4) still held a narrow advantage in the closing stages, however, he gave best close home as 2/1 favourite Instrumental claimed him by a neck. Superior Force (7/1) was best of the rest in third a further three and a quarter lengths adrift.
McAuley said: "That was brilliant. He's a grand horse, all he does is sleep at home and, even here at the races, I was tacking him up and his eyes were closed. I was thinking 'would you wake up?' because it's been one of those days.
“They've been running alright earlier on and it's grand to get one over the line. Colin was very good on him.
“Finke (River) didn't get much of a run around in the last race. It's nice to keep a bit of momentum going.
“They are running well, we ran plenty of them up here today and claimed one in the first so it would have been an expensive day if we didn't get one.”
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
