Review curragh 25th Mar

David Wachman landed the feature race on the opening day of the new Flat season at the Curragh when Chrysanthemum took the Lodge Park Stud EBF Park Express Stakes in commanding style.

The lightly raced four-year-old, who was not disgraced in top company last season, wore blinkers for the first time and travelled sweetly throughout the Group Three contest.

Never far off the pace set by Homecoming Queen the 8-1 shot was sent on in the final quarter-mile by Wayne Lordan and comfortably held favourite Twirl by a length and a half, with Princess Sinead in third.

Lordan completed a double when the Willie McCreery-trained Coolnagree (7-2) held Ishvana by a length in the Gabriel Curran Memorial Madrid Handicap, and made it a treble on Wachman's impressive Amira's Prince (14-1), who finished three and a quarter lengths clear in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden.

New Approach, who won the Epsom Derby for Jim Bolger in 2008, scored with his first runner as a stallion when evens favourite Dawn Approach took the season's first juvenile race, the Tally Ho Stud EBF Maiden.

Also trained by the Coolcullen maestro, Dawn Approach clearly knew his stuff and was always up with the pace before forging clear in the final half-furlong to win by a length and three-quarters in the hands of Kevin Manning.

The www.thetote.com Irish Lincolnshire fell to the lightly raced market leader Sharestan running in the colours of the Aga Khan for the John Oxx-Johnny Murtagh combination.< Ansaab looked to be going well when he struck the front two furlongs out, but after a brief duel he was headed by the 3-1 favourite, who galloped on strongly to score by two and three-quarter lengths.

Kevin Prendergast's Redoutable (9-1) stretched clear to take the Elusive Pimpernel Maiden by four and three-quarter lengths under Chris Hayes, and Croisultan (5-1), now with Dermot Weld, grabbed the lead close home to land the Irish Field Handicap by a neck for Pat Smullen.