Review curragh 23rd Mar

Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen celebrated the opening of the turf Flat season at the Curragh by landing the two feature races with Vote Often and Stuccodor

One of three three-year-olds in the Group Three Lodge Park Stud EBF Park Express Stakes, Vote Often was having just her third start after winning a maiden at Naas on her second run as a juvenile, and she was sent off a 10-1 chance.

British raider Odeliz from the Karl Burke yard looked to be going best entering the closing stages, but Vote Often wouldn't go away and Smullen got her home by a head after a duel through the final furlong.

Weld and his jockey were represented by Stuccodor in the www.thetote.com Irish Lincolnshire and the five-year-old, a prolific winner who has been hurdling, was well supported as the 11-2 favourite.

He found a nice gap to set himself up for a challenge a quarter of a mile out and then ground it out all the way to the line to beat That's Plenty by three-quarters of a length.

Jim Bolger had won the previous three runnings of the season's opener, the Tally Ho Stud EBF Maiden, and his juvenile Alertness was sent off the 7-4 favourite to continue the run, but she could finish no better than fourth.

The race went to the Kevin Prendergast-trained Beach Belle (7-2), a daughter of the Group One-placed Beach Bunny, who was produced down the outside at the furlong pole by Chris Hayes and was well on top as she passed the post two lengths clear.

Fran Berry grabbed the rails berth on Charles O'Brien's filly Iveagh Gardens in the Elusive Pimpernel Maiden and the 6-1 shot, carrying the colours of JP McManus, cleared away from the front in the final furlong to score by four and a half lengths.

Wayne Lordan travelled best before winning both the Trinity Racing Society Handicap on Tommy Stack's 9-2 joint-favourite Great Minds and the Johnny Murtagh Lifetime Achievement In Racing Madrid Handicap on David Wachman's Fly To The Moon (7-1).