Rekindling made a winning start for Joseph O’Brien at Leopardstown today, landing the P.W.McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes at the expense of the trainer’s father Aidan O’Brien who supplied the ‘2-3-4’ in the Group 3 contest.

Formerly with retired David Wachman, the son of High Chapparral was patiently ridden by jockey Wayne Lordan who eventually produced the colt to lead along the inner running rail inside the final furlong before scoring a half length win over Douglas Macarthur The runner-up’s stablemates Yucatan and Capri filled third and fourth place respectively.

Joseph O’Brien later stated “we were expecting him to run well as he’d been working nicely at home. He did a good bit of work last week and we thought he’d be placed, but we didn’t think he’d win.

“He even got stopped in his run and I was surprised that he got away with it. He looks like he could be a nice staying horse.”

By Tom Weekes, quotes from Alan Magee