Waterloo battles to win in opener

Waterloo Bridge landed the odds in the opener at Tipperary for Ballydoyle when scoring on his fourth attempt.

Aidan O'Brien 's charge was a solid 9/10 shot for the five furlong contest and sat behind the leaders in the early stages.

Joseph O'Brien came over to the rail to hit the front over a furlong out but the Zoffany colt was soon tackled by Gift Wrap

Waterloo Bridge drifted right in the closing stages, under pressure, but was always doing enough to hold his rival, eventually getting home by a head at the line.

The winner had some strong looking form coming into the race, having been third to Round Two in Naas and second to Most Beautiful last time at Navan.

"He can be a bit keen at home but was okay today," said Joseph O'Brien afterwards.

"Hopefully he can progress now and is by an exciting sire (Zoffany)."

(Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes)