RACING REPORT FROM LEOPARDSTOWN: LILLIE LANGTRY jumped to the forefront of next year's classic betting with a stylish Group Two success at Leopardstown yesterday evening and Aidan O'Brien intends to follow a tried-and-trusted route with his star filly.

Two of the champion trainer’s previous four winners of the Moyglare Stud Stakes – Rumplestiltskin (2005) and Necklace (2003) – landed the Debutante Stakes before graduating to Group 1 class and the Curragh will be Lillie Langtry’s next port-of-call.

Johnny Murtagh brought her from the rear of the six runners yesterday to mow down her stable companion Devoted To You in the closing stages, with Elusive Galaxy back in third.

That was enough for some firms to make Lillie Langtry as low as 6 to 1 favourite for next year’s Newmarket 1,000 Guineas, ahead of the highly-rated Luca Cumani filly Seta.

“She’s a very classy filly and she should get a mile all right,” O’Brien said. “We gave her a break after she ran at Ascot and Johnny gave her a lovely ride, switching her off and allowing her to enjoy herself. She’s a smasher and the Moyglare will be next.”

There looked to be more fortune about the Ballydoyle team’s earlier success in the opening juvenile maiden as 4 to 7 favourite Beethoven scraped home by a head from Clashnacree and then survived a lengthy stewards enquiry.

Beethoven drifted continually right through the final furlong, carrying the runner up with him, appearing to intimidate the Tommy Stack-trained runner in the process.

With such a narrow margin in it there was genuine uncertainty about the favourite keeping the race but the stewards elected to leave the placings unaltered.

“It’s just one of those things,” Stack’s son and assistant “Fozzy” said. “Sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t.”

Beethoven was breaking his maiden at the sixth try after running fifth in the Phoenix Stakes, third in the Anglesey and fourth in the Chesham at Royal Ascot.

“His dad (Oratorio) was slow enough learning and this lad looks like that too. We think he will progress and he will have no problem stepping up in trip,” O’Brien said.

The former All-Ireland winning captain of the Dublin football team Tony Hanahoe had his colours carried to success in the three year old fillies maiden by Cilium who proved a length too good for Crystal Idea.

“She has a rating of seventy one and I was half tempted to go the handicap route but I’ve always believed she was good enough to win a maiden,” said her Co Tyrone-based trainer Andy Oliver.

“Maybe she’s even better than that and we will try and find some black type.”

Jockey Kieran O’Neill, 20, rode his fifth winner of the campaign when securing a dream run up the rail on Silly Dancer in the apprentice handicap to edge out Forbidden by a head.

“She was back down to a winning mark and we will look at a race in Gowran next week,” said Silly Dancer’s trainer “Ado” McGuinness.

Another apprentice to impress was Shane Foley who powered Magic Morning to a short head defeat of the favourite Slieve Mish in the seven furlong handicap.

“It was a good effort by a three year old filly in her first all-aged handicap and it was a competitive race,” said winning trainer Michael Halford.

Gary Carroll teamed up with Andre Mon Ami to land the ten furlong handicap.