I'll Be Your Clown, green cap, comes to grab grey horse Unsinkable© Photo Healy Racing
I'll Be Your Clown swooped to nail Unsinkable in the shadows of the post in the mile and a quarter Nasrullah Handicap at Navan.
This valuable race was switched to Navan for the first time due to drainage work at its usual host track Leopardstown.
Unsinkable, the 3/1 favourite, made his move for home at the two pole. He was soon ridden by Colin Keane and opened up a four-length with a furlong to travel.
However, the petrol started to dwindle as the closers charged towards him inside the final furlong. Chris Hayes drove I'll Be Your Clown up to pip Unsinkable by a head at odds of 13/2. Shalaman flashed home down the outside to be third at 14/1. He was just a short head away from runner-up Unsinkable.
Successful handler Andrew Oliver said: "I'm delighted with that, and it was a super ride by Chris. We've had our eye on this race for the past month but I'd mixed feelings when they swapped it as he's a good record at Leopardstown.
"Everything worked out well, and he got a good toe to the line. The owner, Graham Keys, is a great supporter of mine, and Chris is riding out of his skin at the moment.
"He's reasonably versatile from a mile to a mile and two furlongs. It's a stiff ten here and he'll probably stick to around that."
This was the most expensive flat race ever run at Navan. The winner received 60,000 euro out of a total prize fund of 100,000 euro.
I'll Be Your Clown brought up a double for Hayes who also won race three with Lady Allegra 0AAdditional reporting by Alan Magee
