Excelcius (centre) stays on best to beat Vivacious Spirit (far side) and Empire State© Photo Healy Racing
There was a thrilling finish to the Irish Stallion EBF Maiden, with the Ger Lyons trained Excelecius just getting the better of Vivacious Spirit and Empire State
Having went down by a head at Killarney in August, the winning son of Exceed And Excel was since well-beaten at Galway on heavy ground.
Sent off a 7/2 chance this afternoon (from 9/2 on-course), he was soon in front under Colin Keane, and was ridden from the two furlong pole.
He was joined inside the final 200 yards by Vivacious Spirit and Empire State, but battled on gamely in the closing stages to prevail by a nose.
Vivacious Spirit (an easy to back 12/1 chance) had to settle for second under Declan McDonogh for Gordon Elliott, while the 4/5 favourite Empire State was a short head back in third.
"That's lovely. The pessimist in me didn't think we'd done it," said Lyons.
"The good news is that he qualifies for a 25,000 pound Book One bonus which is brilliant and was the whole idea of today.
"He hated the ground in Galway. He's been consistent all summer but has been growing and you can see he is a fine big horse.
"We'll give him a day or two to get over this and then we'll geld him through his break and give him a good break. Hopefully he'll grow into a fine horse.
"We think most of our two-year-olds are for next year. We have a bunch of horses that are going to be proper three-year-olds next year.
"It's been a real work in progress this year and we're delighted to have got as many winners as we did. Thankfully we're finishing on a bit of a high."
The winner is owned by David Spratt and Sean Jones, and was bought for 110,000 guineas at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
