Murtagh edges clear on Don Carlos

The Aidan O'Brien trained Don Carlos justified strong market support (5/4 - 10/11f) to win the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Leopardstown today, edging winning jockey Johnny Murtagh into a four winners lead at the head of the Jockeys' Championship.

Don Carlos, a son of Galileo, made most of the running but needed to dig deep to see off the challenge of Legendary Lad (under Pat Smullen) in the straight, eventually winning by half a length.

Afterwards O'Brien reported “Don Carlos has always worked like a nice colt but is still a bit babyish - he did it really well today.”

He added “his form took a big jump between his first and second runs and we may now go to Saint Cloud for a Group 1 race in a fortnight.”

The win moves Murtagh onto the 85 winner mark for the season, four ahead of Pat Smullen.