STAMINA was the order of the day at the Curragh on a wet and windy Sunday, and Magellan Strait showed all of that and more to spring a 150/1 shock in the Friends Of The Curragh Irish Cesarewitch for Joseph O’Brien, Hugh Horgan and owner/breeder Ray Grehan.

The son of Australia has been inconsistent, hence his massive price, but he was resolute to land this ¤324,000 first prize, racing towards the head of affairs for Horgan, who committed him plenty early in the straight. He looked all of his price when headed by My Mate Mozzie and stablemate Dawn Rising, but fought back valiantly in between those runners, and had a half length to spare at the line from the luckless Falcon Eight, who flew home late for second.

“He hasn’t been the most consistent horse in the world but when he runs his race, he generally runs a good race,” said a beaming O’Brien. “Hugh got a great tune out of him today. He stays very well, stamina has always been his thing and that’s what he did, he outstayed them.

“Hugh’s instructions were to go forward, get a nice position and make sure that stamina counted, and he committed at the bottom of the straight and the horse kept galloping.

“I’m delighted for Ray, he bred the horse, and he has run some very good races, and some disappointing ones but it’s a big day today for everyone.”

The finish to the race got very tight with five runners in close proximity and it resulted in three different jockeys earning suspensions following an inquiry from the stewards. Jake Coen, rider of Falcon Eight, was given a four-day suspension for careless riding, while both Horgan and Declan McDonogh (Dawn Rising) were also give four-day suspensions for using their whips with excessive frequency.

The following Friends Of The Curragh Pollardstown Handicap was another war of attrition over the same two-mile-one-furlong trip but the conditions proved no deterrent to 10-year-old Lord Erskine (5/1), who made it win number 10 in the valuable premier handicap.

Owned by the Nolan family, the Harry Rogers-trained gelding has been fabulous servant, and remarkably won the Irish Cesarewitch all the way back in 2017 with Pat Smullen on board.

He looked as effective here, racing in midfield for Siobhan Rutledge before making his ground up to take the lead all of half a mile from home. Held together until after the two-furlong marker, he kept to his work well to comfortably see off Maze Runner by just over three lengths.

“I stuck blinkers on him on Friday and that made the difference but he loves that ground and the trip,” said Rogers.

“He’s just easy to train and he’s very laid-back, that’s probably the key thing, he just does what he wants and doesn’t kill himself. There are probably a few hurdle races in him yet with a bit of luck.

“Jerry (Nolan) was a great supporter and was probably one of the best owners I had, a gentleman. I rode winners for him years ago and it’s great to see the horse winning for the family.”

TONY O’Callaghan and Peter Kelly refused plenty of presumably very nice offers for Caught U Looking (4/1) after her impressive maiden win at Leopardstown and they were rewarded in spades when she enhanced her profile significantly further with a hard fought Group 3 success in the Weld Park Stakes.

Sat in behind the leaders, Noel Meade’s filly made her challenge towards the outside of Satki and Brilliant, and really put her head down for Ben Coen to get the better of the former inside the final half furlong.

It was very a likeable performance from the daughter of Harzand, who could take her decorated trainer to the very top as a classic contender next season.

“Despite all the horses he already has, Tony wasn’t for selling her and said he wanted to roll the dice,” Meade explained. “Peter bred her and owns her as well, and fair play to him, he was up for that too. There is always a bit of extra pressure but she’s a good filly and she will improve.

“She needed every yard but we knew that. We thought with the ground the way it was, it would suit her more than most. Ben said she was green as well, leaning into the other runners late on, and he said she’ll come on a ton. We’ll put her away now I’d imagine. She could be a middle distance filly next year. You’d hope she could get right to the top.”

Tough performance

Gaspar De Lemos (9/4 favourite) got off the mark at the second time of asking with a tough performance in the Pat ‘The Duke’ Leavy Irish EBF Maiden for Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien.

The son of Justify was always prominent on the far side, and though he came under pressure relatively early, Moore looked confident his mount was going to find, and once he got serious with him late on, he came away from Dermot Weld’s Taraj.

“He’ll be a middle distance horse next year,” O’Brien said. “It’s tough out there and he really had to stay to get the trip. He’s probably more a horse for Doncaster (Vertem Futurity) rather than the Dewhurst. He’s like all these Justifys, when you go up in distance, they grow a leg, and he is a very good mover as well, so I’m surprised he handles the ground so well.”

Andy Oliver’s Gibbs Island (16/1) just about dealt with the tough conditions best to get off the mark at the third time of asking in the opening Irish EBF Median Sires Series Maiden.

Settled in behind the leaders by Billy Lee, the James Nicholson-owned colt was in front as far out as the two-furlong marker and he showed a fine attitude to grind out this win from Mo Ghille Mar and Marty The Party.

“He was tough, had to grind it out,” said Oliver. “He is a full-brother to a good Godolphin horse (Live Your Dream). I trained the half-brother (Dream Tale) so we know the family a bit. He had a nice run at Roscommon and we knew stepping up in trip would suit him.

“He’s a good mover so he’s not dependent on ground. We might look at the Eyrefield Stakes for him at Leopardstown, nine furlongs, and that would be it for the year.”