Normandel clung on grimly to win a thrilling renewal of the Lodge Park Stud Irish EBF Park Express Stakes at Naas.
With trainer Jim Bolger and jockey Kevin Manning having already enjoyed two winners on the season-opening card, Normandel was a 14/1 shot to complete a 5,354/1 treble in this one-mile Group Three.
Dermot Weld's 6/4 favourite favourite Yulong Gold Fairy looked to be travelling the best approaching the final furlong - but she was unable to reel in the game Normandel, who kept finding under the Manning drive.
The Fozzy Stack-trained Hand On Heart (20/1) flashed home from further back to almost join Normandel on the line, but the judge confirmed Bolger's charge had held on by a head.
Yulong Gold Fairy was only half a length further away in third.
Bolger said: "She ran well here at the back-end (of last season). I only had her for a while after she came from France. She got a bit tired in the last furlong that day, and we expected that she could build on it.
"She will stay at around seven furlongs or a mile. She won a Listed race in France at a mile and a quarter, but I think she's better at seven or a mile.
"She handles that ground well. She's a very sound filly, and I'd imagine she will go on better ground as well."
Earlier, Bolger and Manning struck with 20/1 chance Western Dawn in the Kildare Post & Kildare Now Maiden while the pair were also on the board in the Naas Racecourse Launches The 2019 Irish Flat Season Handicap as Solar Wave came from an uncompromising position to win by a length and a half at 16/1.
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