Higher Kingdom justified strong support to record a sixth career win, and a fourth at this venue, in division one of the William Hill Proper Betting Handicap at Dundalk.

The John McConnell-trained gelding, who had dropped considerably in the ratings since gaining his previous success off a mark of 81 over course and distance in March 2023, was always up with the pace.

Available at 4/1 overnight and backed into 7/4 favourite, the seven-year-old headed the front-running He Is King just over a furlong out.

Gary Carroll needed to keep the market leader up to his work as He Is King rallied again in the closing stages with half a length separating the pair at the line.

The front two really had the race between them throughout with Feature This keeping on a further two and a quarter lengths back in third.

McConnell said, “Gary's a good judge of pace and the horse has obviously come down a lot in the handicap.

"He's a funny old horse - he's by Kingman and he has his own thoughts on the game, but he owes us nothing. He has been a great servant for us.

"Delighted for Seamus (Devlin), big supporter of the yard and he has been very patient with him.

"He was running into a bit of form based on his last run and even his run before that in Navan was a pretty decent run. It would be nice if he could back it up, but today was the day."

Quotes by Michael Graham