Lee sends Punakha home in Gowran Park

The market principals dominated the fillies and mares' maiden at Gowran Park and it was Punakha who proved stronger than New York Angel on the testing ground.

A mile was the trip and 11/8 favourite New York Angel took the 15-runner field along with Punakha soon settled behind her in second.

The front pair were a few lengths clear of the remainder turning for home and had the race between them at the two marker.

Punakha (13/8) soon went on from a hard-at-work New York Angel and increased the margin in the final furlong.

The runner-up could make no impression and was beaten four and a quarter lengths at the line. Inveterate came out of the pack a further length away in third at 7/1.

Trainer Willie McCreery said: "I'm delighted to get her head in front. She has been running very sound races and I thought Billy (Lee) gave her a lovely ride. He followed Johnny's (Murtagh) horse and I thought it was a lovely thing to do because she led the day in Roscommon and just got chinned.

"She tried to pull herself up when she hit the front today, but it's grand to get it. She will be a lovely big filly for next year and she is a homebred of Eimear's (Mulhern) so I'm delighted.

"I was afraid to ring Eimear today because I thought she might tell me to pull her out because of the ground. I think that'll be it for the year with her."

Punakha is a town located in the Himalayas of Bhutan.

Additional reporting by Donal Murphy