The opening race this afternoon at The Curragh, The Maureen McCormack Lifetime Achievement EBF Maiden was won by Ger Lyon's Ballycahill with Emmet McNamara doing the steering for owners Gerard P Callinan and J J Callinan.

Lyons said afterwards, 'That was very important to me because I worked with Maureen McCormack for years in Peter McCreery's. When I heard about this race it was always the plan to have a runner. When I was growing up Maureen was the life and soul of racing. We think a lot of this filly, it was a surprise that she won but we'll take it.'