Tankerville impresses on debut Well-bred newcomer Tankerville justified odds-on favouritism in the Goresbridge Median Auction Maiden, scoring under Declan McDonogh for Dermot Weld. Out of an American Grade 2 winner in Starformer, the bay victor is a half-brother to stable mate Flavius who won the Listed Trigo Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday. Available at 7/4 in early shows, the son of Kitten's Joy opened on-course at 10/11, before going off the clear favourite at 4/5. Settled behind the leaders on the inner, the Khalid Abdullah owned colt was switched to the outer from two furlong pole, and was soon pushed along to lead. He was ridden and extended his advantage inside the final furlong, going on to score by two and a quarter lengths. Fellow newcomer Killourney (22s to 10s) kept on well to take second under Billy Lee for Willie McCreery, while Focus Required (10/1) was another length back in third, with Wayne Lordan aboard this one for Jim Gorman. Weld said afterwards: "He's a nice horse and Declan described him as a powerful colt. "I was very pleased with Georgeville (third in the previous race) who ran well and should come on from the run. This horse just had a bit more done, and was a bit more forward. "He worked very nicely the other morning, and stretched away well for me at home. I thought he would win and I thought he did it very nicely. "That's it for this year and he'll be a lovely mile and a quarter or mile and a half horse. We'll probably start him off in the Ballysax. "I thought he might have been a bit green early on but he wasn't. We've produced a couple of nice staying two-year-old's in the past few days." Additional reporting by Alan Magee
