Lyrical Park responds to first-time cheekpieces Lyrical Park wore down Reckless before the last to spring a 20/1 surprise in the Proficient Engineering Irish EBF Maiden Hurdle at Gowran Park. Reckless came under a drive from Josh Williamson after two out, but kept finding, however, Sean Flanagan drove the pursuer Lyrical Park up to pass them just before the last. Lyrical Park jumped it well and began to draw away in the closing stages to win by seven lengths from the 5/4 runner-up. This was lightly-raced Lyrical Park's breakthrough success in first-time cheekpieces. Gerard Edmund O'Leary said: "I suppose it was a bit of a surprise. His work has been good though and we had cheekpieces on today which kind of helped him out a bit. He does show plenty at home. "Sean gave him a beautiful ride here the first day and made plenty of use of him the last day when it maybe didn't come together for him. Everything just happened a bit quick. "I don't know about the future, but we'll enjoy tonight." Additional reporting by John O'Riordan
