Candleford strong off the front© Photo Healy Racing
Candleford made virtually all to take the Listed Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Orby Stakes in the hands of Ryan Moore who brought up a double on the card.
A mile and a-half was the trip on offer in the Curragh and the six-year-old gelding was making his seasonal reappearance.
He rolled into the straight and began to crank up the pressure with less than three furlongs to travel.
The son of Kingman found generously for Moore and the only horse able to go with him was Dermot Weld's Sumiha
Chris Hayes got to work on the pursuer, but she still had a couple of lengths to find entering the final furlong.
Candleford was more than resolute off the front and kept up the gallop to prevail by a length and a-quarter at 11/4 for William Haggas. Runner-up Sumiha went off the 2/1 favourite and was three-and-a-half-lengths clear of Starry Heavens (66/1).
Maureen Haggas said: “He runs well fresh and he looked really well today.
“The girl who rides him at home all the time, Alison, has done a brilliant job. She's ridden him for years and knows him inside out. She knows when he's ready and she said he was today, so we were hopeful.
“He wants fast ground and hopefully we're coming into a period of time where we might get some fast ground now.
“We'll see how he is when he gets home. Even though he's an older horse bringing him across the water is a trip and he'll need a few weeks and then William will map something out for him.
“Barnane Stud (owner) are really top-class breeders and these are the type of people that you like to have horses for. They have very nice mares and go to the best stallions, you then get a chance of breeding a nice horse and that's obviously what we're all trying to get a hold of.”
On Moore she added: “He's different gear, he knows what's going on.”
Moore also won the opener on Henri Matisse (11/8f) for Aidan O'Brien.
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
