PAT O'LEARY was pleasantly surprised when his Carhue Lass rallied strongly in the closing stages to deny odds-on favourite Check The Band by a head in the Listed Topaz Sprint Stakes at Tipperary yesterday evening.

O'Leary, owner and trainer of the Common Grounds filly, said afterwards: "The plan was to gain some black type by squeezing into a place here, and then go for a maiden at Down Royal. I just cannot believe that result." Carhue Lass was rated in excess of 20lb inferior to a number of her rivals in this five-runner event, and not surprisingly was sent off a 14 to 1 outsider. However, she showed good speed throughout and stuck her neck out on the far rail when getting back up in the last few strides to pip the Aidan O'Brien trained hotpot.

Winning rider Niall McCullagh did not please the stewards, and they dished out a two-day ban (May 17th-18th) for using the whip with the forehand in front of the saddle.

Aidan O'Brien and his stable jockey Christy Roche were on the mark earlier with newcomer Hopping Higgins in the Greenvale Super Thrive race. O'Brien holds the daughter of Brief Truce in high regard and, after this smooth 4 1/2- length success over Liffey Ballad, O'Brien nominated the Marble Hill Stakes at the Curragh on 1,000 Guineas day (May 24th) as her next target.

Hopping Higgins, who is named after former World snooker champion Alex Higgins, runs in the colours of the Niall Quinn inspired Sporting Quest Racing Club and the syndicate includes snooker's man-of-the-moment Ken Doherty as well as a number of Quinn's international team-mates.

Mariners Reef made it a double for the McCullagh family in the Gowla Classic Handicap Hurdle. Ridden by Niall's brother Derek, and trained by their father Michael, the six-year-old battled well on the run-in to regain the initiative from Nordic Sensation.

. French stables are mounting a strong defence of their 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas on Sunday against one of the most powerful British raids on the first two French Classics.

Andre Fabre's Loup Sauvage will be strongly fancied by local punters to give champion jockey Olivier Peslier a first victory in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains (2,000 Guineas). The colt was flying home in the closing stages when an unlucky second to Daylami in last month's Prix de Fontainebleu at Longchamp.