Celestial Orbit relished the soft ground at the Curragh as Joseph O'Brien trained the first two home in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Park Express Stakes.
Formerly based in Britain with Ollie Sangster, the winner switched stables in the hope of encountering optimum conditions more often and found it in this Group Three event over a mile.
Under Joey Sheridan she was a 33-1 chance, and outran those odds when triumphant by a half a length from stablemate Princess Child (22-1).
Celestial Orbit captures the G3 @IrishEBF_ Park Express Stakes for @JosephOBrien2 pic.twitter.com/Tq8nRyKCYy
— The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) April 3, 2026
"She came over from Ollie Sangster because they were struggling to find real heavy ground for her in the UK," said O’Brien.
"Ollie said that she was a very good filly, which she was on her form, but you just need to find soft ground and obviously we have plenty of that here. You can see her action, she really thrives in it.
"I’m delighted to win a Group race with her as she’s on her way to the paddocks. She’ll probably be covered in the next few weeks.
"She might have another run or two, we’ll speak to the owners and see."
Of the runner up, who was ridden by Declan McDonogh, O’Brien said: "Princess Child ran great. Things just didn’t fall right for her here the last day. She relaxed very well today and found the line well."
The Ger Lyons-trained odds-on favourite Faiyum had to settle for third place, one spot ahead of Paddy Twomey’s Ribblesdale third Catalina Delcarpio.
Johnny Murtagh looks to have a nice prospect on his hands after a taking win for Chasing Paradise in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Fillies Maiden.
The 2-1 favourite on her second start, the well-bred Churchill filly was ridden by Ben Coen when making her debut as a a three-year-old.
She stepped up two furlongs from her sole run over a mile as a juvenile, and prevailed by two and three quarters lengths in what was a smart performance.
"I'm delighted with that. She had a good run last year and surprised me then how well she ran," said Murtagh.
"She had been going well this year and we knew stepping up to a mile and a quarter would suit her well.
"We didn’t know about the ground, she’s a nice mover so I do think she’ll handle better ground and she’ll probably get a mile and a half in time too.
"She’s a nice filly and she has a bit of a future. She might have to step into a trial now."
Michael Mulvany’s Lars Soldier overcame a price of 18-1 to land the Curragh On Course Bookmakers Supporting Free Admission Irish EBF Maiden under Wesley Joyce.
The two-year-old was third on debut over the same course and distance last month and built on that effort to defeat Aidan O’Brien’s 1.7m guineas yearling Confucius by a nose.
"He ran well here the last day. I told Wesley going out to keep him fairly forward as he had a bit more experience than the other horses and I think that’s what won it," said Mulvany, who in contrast to the promising runner-up cost just €3,500.
"The other horse was very green and the penny didn’t drop until late on.
"It’s nice to win a Curragh maiden as a two-year-old at the start of the season."
The 1xBet.ie Supports Safe Gambling Irish EBF Fillies Sprint Handicap was claimed by Andrew Slattery’s Staysound Susie, the 11-4 favourite and the winner by a nose under Jimmy Dalton.
