Comfortable success for well-backed Kalikapour

The Mick Halford-trained Kalikapour ran out a comfortable winner of the William Hill Lengthen Your Odds Maiden.

Down the field in a barrier trial, he ran a race full of promise on debut at Leopardstown in October, finishing sixth of 15 behind Peking Opera.

Well-backed from 11/2 to 7/2 for this mile contest, the Lope De Vega colt was settled towards rear by Ronan Whelan, making good headway on the inner from early in the straight.

Ridden a furlong and a half from home, he shot to the front inside the final 200 yards, keeping on strongly to score by two lengths.

After a slow start, newcomer Just An Hour (5/2jf from 15/8) came home well to finish a never nearer second under Mikey Sheehy for Joseph O'Brien, while Man Of Eden the other joint-favourite, was a head away in third.

"He loved it (the polytrack) - we had him up here in a barrier trial and we thought he liked it," Halford said.

"He's a Lope de Vega so we thought he would handle a dig in the ground but, when we ran him, he was quite weak and he's still quite weak, but I brought him along and wasn't happy just to let him off in Leopardstown.

"We kept him ticking over and he's after strengthening up. A horse with a beautiful temperament and loved that surface, gets the trip well. A smashing horse with a great mind.

"We'll put him away now and let him strengthen up a bit more. He'll be a lovely horse next year."

The winner is out of Kalaxana who won three-times in 2018 for Halford and the Aga Khan, with her biggest success coming in the Listed Lenabane Stakes at Roscommon.

Additional reporting by Michael Graham