Lily's Prince lords it in Dundalk

With a quarter of a mile to go in the Crowne Plaza Hotel Race & Stay Handicap fully 12 of the 13 runners were still in contention, but Lily’s Prince came home strongly down the outside to earn a visit to the winners’ enclosure again.

Shane Foley did the steering on Garvan Donnelly’s four-year-old gelding who sported a hood. The response to Foley’s urgings inside the last furlong saw Lily's Prince draw away to score by a length and three parts at 8/1. Sweet Annathea was second at 14s and 3/1 favourite Merry Mast occupied third. There was a length between the pair.

Garvan Donnelly said: “Last week he was a bit free early on so we decided to drop him back to seven furlongs as they go a bit quicker.

“Shane gave him a beautiful ride and everything worked out well. We’ll look for something similar.”

On his stable, Donnelly added: “Things are going very well and we look to have a nice team for the summer. We have a few two-year-olds and a few of them are starting to breeze and a few look nice enough.”

Lily’s Prince won over a mile here three runs back in Dundalk and was unplaced in his next two efforts over that trip at the all-weather venue.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson