Taipan proves too strong for opposition in Killarney finale

Taipan won for just the second time in his career when doing it the hard way from the front in the closing Killarney Outlook Race at Killarney.

Once spoken of as a Derby contender following an impressive racecourse debut success at Naas, the Jessica Harrington trained gelding has taken time to add to that sole success but now looks a horse worth following.

Sent straight to the front by jockey Shane Foley, the son of Frankel quickened the pace leaving the back straight for the second time, before grinding in and battling hard all the way up the straight. To his credit, he found plenty for Foley and if anything, the further he went, the better he looked.

Richie Galway, the winning trainer's son in law said: "he is a good vein of form and is flying. Shane was positive and good off the front today and he is a nice horse.

"He is just a good solid horse and there are plenty more days in him. There is a lovely staying programme with valuable races for him throughout the season, he probably doesn't want it any quicker than today but as long as he gets his conditions he'll go to all the big meetings.

"It is nice to get another win for Fiona Carmichael who has three horses with Jessie and now all three have won already this season."

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes