Trainer John Murphy and jockey Connor King combined for a surprise win in the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Fillies Maiden at Gowran today, with 18/1 chance Hot Sauce which proved too strong for heavily backed 1/2 favourite and newcomer Variable

King, riding his fourth winner of the new campaign, continues to impress and moved Hot Sauce to the front a furlong and a half out, before the pair held off the challenge of Variable, by a length and a quarter.

Afterwards Murphy, whose biggest winner came with Newmill in the 2006 Champion Chase, said "she's a nice filly and we always thought a lot of her. That's why we put her straight into a Listed race but she had a horrible experience in the stalls the first day and it set her back a lot.

"She's a well-bred filly and her dam is a half-sister to the Kings Stand winner Prohibit. That's what she wants, quick ground. We'll build her up as the year goes on, and hopefully she'll stay on the right track and stay sound.

"She'll stay at around a mile and two, and will probably get a mile and a half later in the year."

By Tom Weekes, quotes from Alan Magee