Strongly supported in the last half-hour before the off, the Adrian Murray trained Malex landed a tidy gamble when returning from a long absence to win the Rockwell College Race at Tipperary.

Absent for 582 days, the five-year-old gelding was making his first start for Murray, having been unplaced in two US Claimers when last seen.

A maiden winner for Michael O'Callaghan on his racecourse debut at the Curragh in March 2022, the AMO Racing Limited owned gelding was highly tried in three subsequent runs before moving stateside.

Back in this country, Malex was backed from 10/1 into 4/1 to make a winning return under David Egan. Held up third of the four runners, as Warrior Brave led Star Galaxy early on, Egan moved closer entering the straight as the last named pair disputed.

Switched out to lead at the furlong pole, Malex stayed on well to land the spoils by one-and-a-quarter-lengths.

Adrian Murray: “We have him about six months, and we weren’t really sure what to expect today.

“He came back from America with a bit of an injury and has got over that, but you just don’t know until you run them.

“He’d been working well at home and has come through with flying colours.

“He’s picked up a little bit of a cut and hopefully he’ll be ok in a few days.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee.