Tooreen Angel gets her head in front

Never out of the first three in her four previous visits to Dundalk, the 6/4 favourite Tooreen Angel gained a deserved victory in the opening Irishinjuredjockeys.com Maiden.

Despite being posted fairly wide throughout, the Battle Of Marengo filly came from mid-division and got into contention halfway down the home straight.

She hit the front entering the final furlong and just held the challenge of Melliferous (15/2) by a head, with Battle Of Benburb (11/2) half a length further back in third.

Trained by Fozzy Stack, the winner is a half-sister to five winners and was getting off the mark at the eighth time of asking.

“She’s a funny little woman," said winning rider Andrew Slattery.

"She takes a bit of cajoling along but she deserved that as she’s so consistent. She loves the surface.

“Everytime she’s ran she’s been caught wide but today they went a gallop and it suited. She doesn’t mind being wide in the straight as she can get intimidated easily. She’s learning all the time.

“She wears a hood and can get a bit worked up.”

“Ideally I think she’s better over a mile and a half if they go a gallop. She needs them to go a gallop for her to settle and luckily enough today we went nice and even and she settled well.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee