After a string of seconds Chenega Bay deservedly got off the mark in the opener at Dundalk, the Crowne Plaza Hotel Maiden, scoring under Colin Keane for Ger Lyons and owner Sean Jones.

The son of Kodiac opened at 15/8 on-course before drifting out to 2/1 joint-favourite at the off.

Settled behind the leaders he was sixth three furlongs from home and came with his challenge on the outer from the two furlong pole.

He was ridden to lead over a furlong out and kept on well in the closing stages to score by a length and a quarter. Black Wolf Run was the other joint-favourite and he kept on to take second under Wayne Lordan for David Wachman. Primal Snow completed the placings a further half a length back in third under Fran Berry for James Ryan at 7/1.

Ger Lyons said afterwards: "He was due that. It was a laboured performance but straight-forward and that was down to how the ground rode and how deep it was.

"Colin said it rode slow but we were expecting that as it'll take a while to bed down. The track can only benefit in time. They 'flipped' the surface and dug into it and added more fibre.

"They have made a few changes here, including to the jockey's room and weigh-room and it's a credit to them."

Clerk of the course, Brendan Sheridan, added: "The whole track was turned, flipped over, and fibres were added.

"It was to get a bit of a bounce into it again. It will take a bit of time for it to settle back in but when it does it should be fine. It will be a bit slow for a while but everyone seems happy with it."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson