Zero Euro s drift away from the rail gave the sweet-travelling Knockgraffon Lad all the room he needed and the big American-bred son of Forestry quickened up well to avail of his opportunity in division two of the [email protected] Handicap. The win gave apprentice rider Colin Keane a double (at odds of 34/1 but earlier got a 3 day careless riding ban on Alheera in race 2) after his earlier victory on Mountain Coral

Successful here just a week ago, Knockgraffon Lad was racing from an 8Ib higher mark but that, and a drop back of over two furlongs in trip, made not a whit of difference as the four-year-old scored again convincing – this time by two lengths.

Winning trainer Michael Byrne said: "He's improving and we know how to ride him now.

"We were making the running and he wasn't getting home.

"We'll come back here on the eighth of January for another one of these.

"He'll make a right dual purpose horse for the summer as he is a brilliant jumper." (GC & EM)