Second for the Slatterys here in October Maoilin this evening made a winning debut for Team Valor and Paddy Twomey in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden.

Whilst there was a lot of promise from Maoilin’s fellow 3/1 joint favourite, Bellagio Man in second place, he hadn’t the know-how on debut to quite grab a gold medal.

Under Billy Lee Maoilin was always going to keep Bellagio Man at bay inside the last, which he did in the end by three parts of a length.

“It's nice to get a winner,” said Twomey.

“To be fair she ran very well for the Slatterys last year. Team Valor bought her afterwards and my job has been simple.

“She's a nice filly with plenty of ability and I was hoping she'd do something like that tonight. I didn't like the look of the draw but she's gone and obliged.

“I'd say that trip is the absolute minimum and that she's probably a mile-and-a-quarter plus filly, maybe even a mile-and-a-half later in the year.

“I didn't think past today with her. She's 17 hands and should improve plenty.

“I'm thrilled, Team Valor have been very good to me since I started training. They have plenty of horses in training with me and it's great to be able to reward them with a winner.”

S. Foley, rider of My Holy Fox trained by Mrs John Harrington, reported to the Clerk of Scales that his mount hung left in the straight.

(GC & EM)