Donnacha O'Brien's Guildenstern coped best with the testing conditions at Leopardstown, making the breakthrough on his third start in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden.

An eye-catching second on debut when trained by Joe Murphy, he subsequently changed hands and finished 11th of 23 on his first start for current connections in the Goffs Million.

Settled behind the leaders this afternoon and ridden by Gavin Ryan a furlong and a half from home, he soon challenged the front-running Master Of The Hunt

Returned at 18/5 (from 9/4), the Leonard Green-owned victor edged to the front inside the final 100 yards and came home a length to the good.

The outsider of three Aidan O'Brien-trained representatives, South Pole (33/1) filled the runner-up spot under Jack Cleary, while his aforementioned stable companion Master Of The Hunt (9/4f) was another length back in third.

"He had a very good run first time out and was kind of in the wrong part of the track in the Million. It’s nice to get a win into him and we'll put him away now for the winter," the winning trainer commented.

"When the ground is that bad it's always a worry. I thought he'd handle a bit of juice but when it gets to that level you don't really know.

"He seems to be very genuine and he got the seven well so that is half the battle on that ground."

STEWARDS REPORTS

Following a request from broadcasters, the Raceday Stewards granted permission for a two minute delay to this race.

The Raceday Stewards interviewed J. Cleary, rider of South Pole, concerning his use of the whip in the latter stages of this race. Evidence was heard from the rider concerned who accepted he was in breach of the whip regulation and apologised. Having viewed a recording of the race and considered the evidence the Raceday Stewards were satisfied that J. Cleary was in breach of Regulation 10.3(g)(frequency) and having considered his record in this regard they suspended him for 4 racedays.

Additional reporting by Alan Magee