A YEAR on from his highly encouraging debut on this card, Jon Ess produced his best effort to date to land the well-contested seven-furlong handicap which provided Conor O’Dwyer with his first success of the year.

The victorious four-year-old had finished no worse than third in six previous outings at this track and was handed a great chance on ratings having been dropped 6lbs since finishing a close third here on his final start of 2017. The trailblazing Togoville once again gave his all up front but, hard as he tried, he just could not contain Jon Ess inside the distance as Billy Lee’s mount forged past to score by half a length. The well backed 3/1 favourite carries the colours of the Brinkleys Syndicate.