Magnolia gets the job done

Magnolia Beach justified odds-on favouritism in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF 2yo Maiden, scoring under Emmet McNamara for trainer Ger Lyons.

The son of Footstepsinthesand finished second on his debut over seven furlongs last month, when going off a well-backed 4/1 chance.

Having opened a shade of odds-against this morning, he was backed on-course from 4/7 to 2/5 at the off. Settled in second, the Qatar Racing Limited owned colt travelled strongly two furlongs out, and he was soon ridden to the front.

Princess Perlita (6/1), for Mick Halford and Shane Foley, then came with her bid on the outside, and the ‘jolly’ needed to be driven out to see off her challenge, as he went on to score by half a length.

The front-running Relentless Pursuit (14/1) finished a further four and a quarter lengths back in third under Colin Keane, also for Ger Lyons.

Shane Lyons said afterwards: "We have nominated him to go to Dubai and hopefully that is where he will go. He learned a lot from his first run, and he will be a nice horse for next year."

Additional reporting by Alan Magee