Scrapper Blackwell looked the one to beat in the opening five-furlong juvenile maiden at Dundalk, and the well-backed 4/6 favourite did not let his supporters down when scoring in good style under Gary Carroll.

The Ger Lyons-trained youngster, runner-up on two of his previous three outings at this venue, travelled strongly to take it up over a furlong out and had little trouble beating In Salutem (12/1) by two and a half lengths. Abstraction a fair mover in the market on track from 14/1 into 8/1, was a further length and a quarter back in third.

Lyons thinks quite a bit of the winner saying, “You could see from the entries he’s had that we think he’s quick. No disrespect to the winner but the six furlongs beat him the last day.

“It’s been frustrating all year with the ground, and we couldn’t run him when we wanted to run. The only negative is that there is no bonus for this race.

“The time (58.35) is quick and we’ll put him away now for the year. We may geld him and let him grow up. The Reaper won this race a few years ago, and if he turns out to have as good a rating as him he’ll do.”