League appreciates the quick ground

The Aidan O’Brien trained League Of Nations clearly appreciated the quick ground as he defied top weight when running out a comfortable winner of the last at Navan, the Paddy Power In Support Of The Irish Dogs For The Disabled 3yo Handicap.

The son of Galileo ran well on his first four starts but he disappointed at Killarney last time out, finishing a well beaten third behind Kiss Goodnight when sent off the 4/5 favourite.

Stepped up in trip by two furlongs and encountering quick ground for the first time, he was backed from his morning price of 9/2 and he went off the 3/1 favourite.

Scelig (4/1) attempted to make all under Kevin Manning for Jim Bolger but she had no answer once overtaken by the winner over a furlong out, as he went on to score by two and a quarter lengths.

The aforementioned Jim Bolger trained filly plugged on to take second while Carried was a neck back in third under Pat Smullen for Prunella Dobbs at 8/1.

Winning rider Joseph O’Brien said afterwards; "He disappointed at Killarney but it was very bad ground and the better ground today helped. He has been running consistently and he was entitled to win that."

Additional reporting by Alan Magee