Hayes doubles up on Bunyan's Never Seen Before

One of three handicap debutants in the field, Never Seen Before (14s into 11/1) came home strongly from mid-division to complete a quick double for Chris Hayes in the Crowne Plaza Hotel Dundalk 3-y-o Handicap.

Off his opening mark of 64, the gelded son of Epaulette defeated the 11/4 favourite Stop On Red by half a length with Ben Asker (4/1) a further length and a quarter away in third.

Winning trainer Darren Bunyan, in whose colours the winner ran, commented: "He’s a horse that is going to win plenty of races around here and on the grass.

“That’s his first handicap today. He needed to learn to race and a couple of his runs he either over-raced or he was behind the bit.

"The penny is after dropping with him today and I thought Chris was magic on him.

“Like all mine he’s for sale and hopefully he’ll be bought to stay with me.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee