Hitchens (13/2) enjoys his outings in the six furlong Group 3 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh and he delivered again when getting a lovely run through under Johnny Murtagh.

David Barron’s eight-year-old won this race in 2011 and was fourth in it last year. This result made it five English-trained successes in a row in the Greenlands.

Murtagh raced just off the pace and when Jimmy Styles started to fade a gap opened for Hitchens and he powered through it to score by a neck from Reply (11/1).

Johnny Murtagh said: “He quickened through them well. I thought I was always going to win. The last few strides he kind of died a bit.

“The owners are very happy. He didn’t like it in Newmarket on firm ground down the hill [seventh on May 5], but the ground was lovely today.”

Joint-owner Laurence O’Kane added: “That was a tremendous ride by Johnny. How professional was that from a man about to have his first runner as a trainer?”

With joint top-weight Maarek being taken out this morning due to a stone bruise, punters piled into Eddie Lynam’s Slade Power down to 10/3 favouritism on the off.

On his first run for 217 days, the four-year-old colt kept on well into third, half a length in arrears of the battle for first.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson