The three-year-olds and upwards maiden was like a piece of work for 98-rated Torivega who breezed home under Robbie Colgan.

John Lavery's homebred had been running creditably in stakes races and found the opposition in this ordinary maiden much easier to deal with.

Colgan dropped his hands onto the withers of the strong-travelling 1/2 favourite who tanked along just behind the leaders and moved into second a furlong out. After heading Double Jabbed a hundred yards out, the winner was nudged out to beat that rival by a length and a quarter. 

Winning trainer Sheila Lavery said: "That was pure relief. Robbie gave him an absolutely class ride as you have to be really ballsy to sit there for so long although he said he wasn't ballsy enough to sit that way to the line!

"I've been pitching him in at the deep end but I actually learned a lot about him in France so the trip wasn't a complete waste of time - and we had a lovely time! Deauville was my fault as I had asked David Egan (jockey) wrongly to go up front and he said afterwards that he'd have ridden him differently.

"We learnt from that and he is trying to race too much but is only a three-year-old and actually takes a lot of work. He is hard on himself because he is heavy."

She added "Viztoria (the winner's Group 2-winning dam) was a pinhook who we couldn't sell and Ado McGuinness and Eddie Lynam trained her, but it was almost by default that I got into training.

"Viztoria suckered John (Lavery, brother) into ownership and it was happy days for me. She has got Invincible Spirit and Sea The Stars foals on the ground and is in-foal to New Bay."

Quotes from Tom Weekes