Zabarajad who finished sixth in the Irish 2000 Guineas, gave punters a sweat when making hard work of winning Gowran Park’s opening seven furlong maiden at odds of 30/100.

The John Oxx trained favourite took some time to warm to his task and then was baulked by President Lincoln who jinked to his left deep inside the final furlong. Johnny Murtagh galvanised his mount though to score by a head.

President Lincoln was returned second at 4/1, having been backed down from 11/2 while Krivan at 20/1 was a further three-and-a-half lengths back in third.

Oxx commented: “He kept punters on the edge if anyone backed him. He won anyway, but he’ll hardly be rated 105 after this.

"I thought the pace would collapse in front.

“It’s hard to know where he’ll go after this. He stayed on well in the end.” The Reek (66/1) reared up and unshipped Karen Kenny as the stalls opened.