Ezeliya and Chris Hayes© Photo Healy Racing
Ezeliya justified market confidence, as she made the breakthrough on her second start in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden.
Well-fancied on debut at Leopardstown last month, the Dermot Weld-trained Dubawi bay finished an encouraging fourth after a slow start.
Sent off the clear favourite at 11/10 this afternoon (briefly available at 7/2 in early shows), she was soon settled in mid-division by Chris Hayes and was fourth halfway.
Ridden to challenge on the outer from the two-furlong pole, the Aga Khan-owned victor edged to the front inside the final 150 yards, asserting close home to score by a length.
Newcomer Wendla (9/2) went down fighting in second, with the front-running Whisper A Prayer (18/1) another two-and-three-parts of a length back in third.
"I was impressed because everything went wrong really. She half-fluffed her lines coming out of the gates, we went no pace and it was a three-and-a-half furlongs sprint-mile," Hayes revealed.
"I was in a decent position to move forward but I had to build. She is a filly that stays well but when she missed the break, I couldn't bustle her up or do anything silly. I was impressed though and she will be a lovely filly for 10-furlongs in the spring.
"She handled that ground quite well, has a great attitude and will either go for a blacktype race or a deserved break now."
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
