Exhortation just held on to emerge on top after a final furlong duel in the six-furlong maiden at Dundalk.

Pat Smullen tracked the leader, Cluin Aine until a furlong-and-a-half out but was soon tackled by Multitasking after hitting the front.

The Khalid Abdullah colt had to pull out all the stops as he was strongly pressed in the closing stages and just edged the verdict as the pair flashed past the post together.

Dermot Weld 's charge, sent off 5/4 favourite, had just been nabbed here over a furlong further on his last outing and the drop in trip did the trick today.

"Sometimes a low draw is great here, in fact 99 per cent of the time, but on him it forced my hand and he got to the front too soon," revealed Smullen afterwards.

"He'll be a much better horse with more cover. He's won his maiden now and hopefully if he gets a nice handicap mark he'll be competitive."

The front-running Cluin Aine, who had been nibbled at from 66/1 into 33/1, kept on for third.

Gary Carson & Michael Graham