FIVER Friday was both a well-named and well-backed winner of the feature race on Ireland’s first fixture on Good Friday at the Curragh - taking out the inaugural running of the €100,000 1xBet.ie Emerald Cup Handicap for Gavin Cromwell, Nathan Crosse and owner Philip Gilmore.

The likeable dual-purpose mare was racing 1lb wrong at the weights off 8st 7lb, and she’ll be set for a fair hike after winning so readily here by three and three quarters of a length from Irish Lincoln winner Ribee. This was only the winner’s third start since joining the Cromwell team from Paul Traynor, who had won with her on five occasions previously.