There’s no place like Leopardstown for Famous Name as he won his tenth race at the Foxrock venue when taking the Listed Heritage Stakes by a head from Sharestan

Of those ten wins, five have been Group 3’s and five of Listed status. It was his 15th win in total and today’s pot of 26,000 further topped up his earnings of over 1,000,000. It was also his third successive victory in this race.

Pat Smullen pushed the 9/10 favourite into the lead a furlong and a half out and he held the fast-finishing Sharestan (11/8) by a head at the line.

33/1 shot Northgate came in third a length and three parts away in the 11-runner race.

Kris Weld son of trainer Dermot Weld said: “The trainer is in China but I’ve relayed that to him. Pat said you’ll see dramatic improvement for that run.

“We’ll follow the same route as last year and hopefully pick up that elusive Group 1. There’s lots to look forward to.

“Dad is very taken with what he has seen in China. The Chinese are committed to buying millions of euro worth of Irish bloodstock.”

It has been reported that Ireland will help China establish a multi-billion-euro national equine centre in Tianjin which could be worth approximately 40 million euro in exports for Ireland within three years.

Michael Graham