The 11/10 favourite Take Me To Church won the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Auction Maiden in the hands of Ronan Whelan.

Runner-up on soft ground at Naas on his previous outing, the Churchill colt got to the front after a furlong and found plenty off the bridle in the straight to beat Anvika by three parts of a length.

Trainer Jack Davison, who also saddled third home Bergamasco said of his winner who is owned by David Byrne & Partners: "I'd say he is more of a turf horse now, being honest, than an all-weather horse but it is nice to see he can handle that sort of surface. Going forward, it gives us more options.

"He's still a touch babyish. He's genuine but being by Churchill you wouldn't expect him to be an early-season type. He has just been learning a lot as he has been going on.

"The last day at Naas he came forward a lot for the application of headgear (cheekpieces) - it is just to help him to figure it out quicker. We had to make the running today, so the cheekpieces were no harm.

"He's very genuine, you can see when Ronan went for him he dropped his head to the ground and tried really hard."

Quotes from Michael Graham