Well-fancied second favourite This Songisforyou was in the front rank throughout the Monami Construction Flat Race and stayed on resolutely in the straight to make a winning debut.

The American-bred, a $57,000 purchase as a yearling, was joined racing into the dip by drifting favourite Bukhill but that one soon had little left to offer. Instead, it was the favourite's stablemate The Twelve Pins who came from off the pace to throw down a strong challenge in the straight but Derek O'Connor kept the winner up to his work to hold on by a neck with the front pair nicely clear of the rest.

Winning trainer Emmet Mullins said: "It has been a long road, he didn't make the breeze-ups due to a niggly problem and we had him in training last year as well. We decided to keep him for a bumper and with his pedigree, he was always going to be a good ground horse.

"I told Michael (Mee) during the Punchestown festival that this was your four-year-old festival horse for Galway, so it is great to be proven right."

He added "We kept Crowns Major last year, who had been through a breeze-up, and it worked as we were able to go back to the Flat. That's another avenue as this horse can now go back to the Flat without leaving behind a bumper.

"There is a winners' bumper here on Sunday for which he'll get an entry tomorrow and knowing the owners, he could be tackling the 1m4f mile maiden here next year. He is a very talented horse, has plenty of gears and has jumped as a three-year-old."

The opening day crowd was 15,179, down from 20,397 in 2019.

Quotes from Tom Weekes