Circle sheds her maiden tag

Circle scored an all-the-way success in the seven furlong maiden at Leopardstown as Mona Brown and Angel Way failed to hunt him down in the final furlong.

The three-year-old, who was the only horse in the field holding a Group race entry in the Group 2 Blandford Stakes, had started to look exposed as her form regressed from a second place on debut here to trailing in sixth at Galway over a mile and a half last time.

Coming back to seven furlongs helped though as trainer Aidan O’Brien confirmed. He said: “The drop back in trip suited her. She didn’t get a mile and a half in Galway and she’s out of a Bluebird mare [sprinter].”

Joseph O’Brien rode the 5/1 winner who won snugly as the jockey eased up on her near the finish when in no danger of being caught. This allowed 5/2 favourite Mona Brown to close within three parts of a length at the line. The runner-up was backed in from 7/2 while the winner was easy to back from 4/1.

O’Brien put up two pounds overweight on Circle at 9 stone 2.

Angel Way, who was backed from 16/1 to 8/1 this morning, came in third at 10/1 for Denis Cullen and Billy Lee.

(on course reporting by Alan Magee)