Rockhampton opens the Ballydoyle account for 09

In a maiden where there were a few high reputations, Aidan O'Brien's Rockhampton got the master of Ballydoyle off the mark for the current season by holding off David Wachman's Pirate Ship by a length and a half.

It was third time lucky for the son of Galileo who had two starts last term, but made no mistake at this time of asking under Johnny Murtagh, and was thus made a 12/1 chance from 25/1 for the Derby.

"He is a nice horse and Johnny thought him plenty. I hope he progresses, there should be plenty there and he could come back for the Ballysax or one of those trials," said the winning trainer.