HIT The Bid left the form of his opening two efforts well behind to spring a 50-1 surprise in the Jimmy O'Neill Irish Racing Excellence Curragh Stakes.

Soundly beaten on both previous starts, the Darren Bunyan-trained outsider was always up with the pace in the Group 3 sprint and worked his way into the lead a furlong out. Leigh Roche was able to grab the rail and in the process box in Yulong Baobei, which left Mur Hiba as the main danger but Kevin Manning's mount could only close the gap to half a length at the line.

Bunyan said: "We thought this lad was very good from day one. His first two runs were disappointing but we knew what was wrong, he had a slight wind issue and we corrected that after the Marble Hill. Everything is ahead of him and we think he'll be a hell of a horse next year. That's as soft as he wants it. For a big horse he likes to flow along on good ground."

He added: "I put him in the Mill Reef at Newbury and anybody who had a look at the entries would have a fair idea what we thought of him. I'm delighted to win our first group race. We'll see how he comes out of this and the ground will be a big factor. If he comes out of it well he could go for the Round Tower or could wait for the Mill Reef."

Order Of St George ran out a comfortable winner of the Palmerstown House Estate Irish St Leger Trial Stakes for the second year running at the Curragh.

Aidan O'Brien's four-year-old took the Group 3 contest 12 months ago before landing the Irish St Leger itself and was sent off at odds of 2-11 to repeat the dose following his impressive Gold Cup triumph at Royal Ascot.

Settled in the rear as Arya Tara blazed a trail, the favourite cruised into contention under Donnacha O'Brien early in the home straight and was pushed out for a length-and-a-half verdict over Twilight Payment, who emerged with plenty of credit.

O'Brien indicated it would be a similar plan to last year as regards the immediate target for the winner, and said: "I'm delighted with that - it was lovely. He was just ready to start back so I was a bit worried but he settled lovely and you'd have to be delighted. He'll come back here (Irish Leger) first and we'll take it a step at a time with him."

GAMBLE FOILED

A gamble was foiled in opener at the Curragh as Mujaazy touched off the well-backed Bound in the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Fillies Maiden.

The Aidan O'Brien-trained filly was supported into 4-1 from 10-1 before the off and looked like the winner virtually all the way as she blazed a trail under Emmet McNamara. However, Dermot Weld's 5-1 chance refused to go down without a fight and stayed on strongly to get up by a head for a last-gasp victory.

"She stays well, is tough and genuine," said Weld. "She'll probably just run once again, most likely in the Silken Glider, to get a bit of black-type before the year is out.

"She wants every yard of a mile and will make a lovely mile-and-a-quarter or mile-and-a-half stakes filly next year. The little bit of ease did help."

Conversely, the front-runner hung on in the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Maiden as De Boss Man (9-2) dug deep for Colin Keane to hold the late lunge of Ice Canyon by half a length.

An Saighdiur (8-1) followed up an impressive Sligo success with another victory in the Al Ain Racecourse Handicap. Sent straight to the front by Billy Lee, Andrew Slattery's nine-year-old always looked in control as he came home a length and three-quarters clear of Excelli.

The Ducky Mallon (11-2 fav) edged out Enter The Red by half a length to score in the Kildare Medieval Festival Handicap, while Melanna (9-1) was an authoritative three-length winner from Placere in the concluding Longines World Fegentri Championship For Lady Riders Handicap.

READ THE FULL CURRAGH REPORT IN THE IRISH FIELD