Farrell & Foley on the mark with Stronger

Stronger Than Me landed an on-course touch as he came with a late run to take the Silken Thomas 40th Anniversary Handicap under Shane Foley for Bill Farrell.

Fitted with cheekpieces for the first time (just like Yulong Baoju winner of the second), the five-year-old son of Marju was backed on-course from 6/1 into 4s at the off.

Inside the final furlong it looked as if Salam Alaykum and Golden Shoe were going to battle out the finish, however Stronger Than Me got a nice run through on the inside and he came home best, hitting the front in the closing stages, scoring by a neck at the line.

Salam Alaykum had to settle for second at 8/1 under his trainer/jockey John Egan, while Golden Shoe was a half a length back in third under Kevin Manning for Jim Gorman at 14/1.

Sacred Kingdom was sent off the 13/8 favourite under Niall McCullagh for Johnny Murtagh, but he faded tamely away once coming under pressure, crossing the line in last place.

Bill Farrell said afterwards: "Shane gave him a very good ride. I told him to go on the outside as he doesn’t like being crowded, but he had no choice with the way the race panned out.

"The cheekpieces helped and that’s his trip. He’s not a great traveller so he’ll either run again here or at Leopardstown.

"I named him after an Amy Winehouse song."

Additional reporting by Alan Magee