Third at the Curragh on debut, Monotone (11/4) made the most of that experience to land the Irish Stallion Farms EBF 2-y-o Maiden for Jim Bolger and Rory Cleary.

A first runner and winner for Verbal Dexterity, the winner tracked market leader Amazonian Warrior who was making his debut, before heading that one inside the final quarter-mile. The latter rallied but Monotone found enough for Cleary's urgings fend off the favourite by half a length.

Ger Flynn, travelling head lad to the winning trainer, said: "It is great to get off the mark with the two-year-olds and he ran a very good race the last day at the Curragh when the penny only dropped in the last two furlongs and he came home really well.

"The first two at the Curragh were smart but he is tough, genuine and knew we'd give Adrian Murray's horse (Amazonian Warrior) a race as having a race under his belt is a big big help.

"He has guts in bucket loads as he could have laid down and is a gorgeous horse.

"He is homebred through-and-through; Verbal Dexterity covered eight mares last year and the boss (Bolger) has sold him on to Turkey."

Quotes by Tom Weekes