RAIN-softened ground was a game changer for the first flat meeting of the Harvest Festival at Listowel on Tuesday, most notably in the feature Listed Edmund & Josie Whelan Memorial Listowel Stakes which produced an 80/1 shock winner in Maud Gonne Spirit.

Ridden by Nathan Crosse, the 82-rated six-year-old mare was the rag of a somewhat depleted field, but she basically hung tough in the ground, coming off the rail to mow down both long-time leader and stablemate Curvature and Galways scorer Miramis.

This was a fine blacktype breakthrough for Oliva Hoare’s mare who was recording her sixth win, all of which have come on ground described as yielding or softer.

“Jessie and all the team have done a great job with her,” said Crosse, recording his second listed success. “It’s great to get that win for her, great for her pedigree.

“I was relatively confident in the straight. We went a proper good gallop and I knew my mare would stay going all day. They came back to me, she stayed going the one pace, and she really handled the ground well.”

The Irish Stallion Farms EBF Rated Race produced a fine winner in Joseph O’Brien’s Nor Time Nor Tide (9/4) who won in the colours of Annemarie O’Brien, Sue Magnier and Michael Tabor.

Conor Stone-Walsh made a big mid-race move to get the son of Ten Sovereigns to the front in the mile contest, taking up the running from Old Faithful and Oisín Murphy, and he was able to hold a comfortable advantage over those rivals in the straight.

THREE-time British champion jockey Oisín Murphy had Group 1 wins around the world on his CV but a first win in his native county came on Tuesday and it was just that bit special, lighting up a grey day at Listowel

The horse that provided the unique win was Dragon Of Malta (100/30 favourite), trained by Pat O’Donnell, and the pair emerged best in a frantic finish to the seven-furlong Kelleher Feeds & Agri Suppliers Ballymullen, Tralee Handicap.

Like he did in the previous race when just touched off on Zephron, Murphy came up the inner on the Gzira Syndicate-owned gelding, and though he got to the front, there were numerous challengers on his outside. At the line, he held on by a nose, from Mercurial, with Brace Troop just another nose back in third.

“I wasn’t sure if we had won in the photo,” Murphy said. “He travelled around beautifully and he was tough in the straight. Daniel King is a very promising young rider and he has a valuable claim and I wasn’t sure if he got up on the line.

“The horse is trained by the O’Donnell family in Co Limerick, not too far from here and I’ve known them for years so it’s great to ride a winner for them. Thank you to Pat Healy and Mark Enright for organising for me to come over. It’s great to be here and to get a winner was a great relief. My mother was very excited - I’m sure she enjoyed it.”

The Listowel Arms Hotel Handicap looked a wide open affair beforehand but it only really concerned one horse, with the admirable Spanish Tenor (16/1) making all from the front for Cian MacRedmond and Ado McGuinness.

The Shamrock Thoroughbreds-owned gelding was allowed to do his own thing from the early stages, with only Laughifuwant in close proximity, and while the remainder of the field closed up in the straight, the eight-year-old stayed on strongly.

“He’s such a great horse,” McGuinness said. “It’s a front runner’s track today and they just couldn’t make up the ground on him. He got an easy lead in front and he stays very well.

“We keep him sweet, train him on the beach and I don’t think he has had a gallop since the last time he ran. We’ll find something for him again.”

THE Rose Hotel Handicap was a helter skelter affair and unsurprisingly was a race of changing fortunes late on.

Liseux had hit the front at the furlong marker but then failed to deal with the challenge of Zephron, who got up the inside rail for Oisín Murphy, and secondly Racing Royalty (11/2), whose late swooping challenge for Billy Lee overcame both.

Lee was riding the winner for his sister Gillian Scott, who trains less than hour away from the track in Ballingarry, Co Limerick, while the owners (Racing Royalty Syndicate) were all relatively local as well.

“It’s great to get a Listowel winner. It makes the year, it’s one of our local tracks,” Scott said. “The ground is so important to this one. When we saw the rain coming, we were delighted. I couldn’t believe the price he was.

“It’s a fantastic syndicate. We bought him cheaply enough. He’s got a lovely pedigree. We’ll look for soft ground again and we should get it.”

Starliner (5/2) took full advantage of a laboured effort from hot favourite Master Of The Hunt in the opening seven-furlong Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden

Gavin Ryan was happy to make the running on Donnacha O’Brien’s colt who had the favourite covered and then dealt with the challenge of My Princess on his inside.

“He had three good runs, we felt he had a good chance coming here and experience will always stand to you around these tracks,” Ryan said. “It’s a tough place to make the running, especially for two-year-olds, you’re turning from five furlongs out, but he was good and tough.”

For so much of the one-mile-six-furlong Jet, Peggy & Eamonn O’Carroll Memorial Handicap, it looked like Pinot Gris was set to record a hat-trick of wins for Gavin Cromwell, but a somewhat unexpected late lunge from Eastern Legend won the day for Luke McAteer and Jim Bolger.

The Jackie Bolger-owned colt arrived in Kerry in good form but he had never raced beyond 10 furlongs. He showed he stays that trip and more as he sustained his effort right to the line.

The son of Teofilo remains lightly raced and likely to improve again over this trip.