Edeymi and Rory Cleary© Photo Healy Racing
< Edeymi showed some of the ability that enabled him to finish second in the Fred Winter Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival last March when he broke his duck on the Flat with a Dundalk success.
Tony Martin's 12-1 shot, second in all three of his previous Flat outings when trained in France, has been out of form of late and unseated his rider in a hurdle race at Limerick over the festive period.
Victory in the first division of the Crowne Plaza Leading Jockey & Trainer Championship Maiden will have boosted his confidence, as he came with a strong run under Rory Cleary to beat Zip Wire by three-quarters of a length.
Dundalk has been a happy hunting ground for Ger Lyons and the trainer notched his 100th winner on the all-weather track when Toccata Blue took the Crowne Plaza Hotel Race & Stay Maiden.
The three-year-old brought decent form into the race, having been placed on his last two runs, and Emmet McNamara was never far away before challenging in the final furlong on the 7-4 chance to peg back Eusepio and score by half a length.
There was a long delay to the start of the meeting because of an issue concerning insurance cover for stalls handlers, and the opening www.dundalkstadium.com Handicap finally got under way around three-quarters of an hour late.
It was won by Liam McAteer's gelding Thats A Fret (8-1), who duelled down the straight with the favourite Knock Stars and grabbed the prize by a neck under Niall McCullagh.
Eddie Lynam's standing dish Akasaka (7-2) has been in good form of late and put up a splendid performance to defy top-weight in the Floodlit Friday Nights At Dundalk Handicap, making his bid at the top of the straight and asserting to get the better of Shake The Bucket by a length and a quarter in the hands of Ian Brennan.
Shane Foley won the Dundalk Stadium Light Up Your Night Handicap on Mick Halford's 5-2 favourite Red Laser and followed up in the second division of the maiden on John McConnell's Kharezi (11-4).
