Notable victory for Mullingar's Ciaran Murphy in Ayr

While he has tasted much success on home soil, Ciaran Murphy of Charlestown Stud, Mullingar enjoyed his first victory outside the country when Moudan landed the Scotty Brand Handicap Chase at Ayr on Saturday.

The talented star produced the finest performance of his career to comfortably dismiss six rivals in the opener at Ayr on Scottish Grand National day.

Moudan had finished in the runner-up spot at Fairyhouse over Easter in what was an encouraging effort, while he enjoyed victory previously at Navan. Moudan is owned and bred by Pat McCormack and was sent off a 4/1 chance for Saturday’s race. He settled into the race well and made smooth headway to lead before three out.

Soon skipping clear under Sean Bowen, he ultimately eased to an 11-length win, leaving the Gavin Cromwell's French import Le Nez Creux to fill the runner-up place.

"It's 13 days since he last ran and he's come here on the back of a very good run at Fairyhouse. The ground was probably a little bit better than he'd like that day," said Ciaran Murphy when speaking on ITV Racing.

"Myself and Mark (Boylan) walked the track today and couldn't have been happier to be honest. He loves that heavy ground. Mark said after Fairyhouse that we should have a crack at this, it's a 75 grand race and there is a chance we'll get our ground. We made this the priority then and it's worked out really well."

Charlestown Std has enjoyed one of their best ever seasons and the horses under their watch are producing some great performances.

"We had our best year ever last year with 20 plus winners from a small string. We have 80 boxes and they'd be full most of the time. We have 40 to 50 to run, half and half, Flat and National Hunt,” revealed Murphy.

"We have more two-year-olds this year, we have about 15. We've stuck out our neck and invested and owners have got behind us. We have a few nice Flat horses there and we've a few nice young National Hunt horses coming through.

"It's competitive in Ireland and we are aware of what we are able to buy and compete against, but with the help of Mark we place them as best as we can," he added.

Ciaran said the yard enjoyed a memorable weekend as there was further success at the Castletown Geoghegan Point-To-Point on Sunday. Thanking everyone for their support, he said:

“Moudan thankfully travelled home in great shape after his win on Scottish Grand National day. It was a massive thrill for everyone to see him win as he did under Sean Bowen.

“Our weekend got even better today at our local point-to-point in Castletown-Geoghegan, where Macs Charm came home in front under Matthew Love. It was a real family success to celebrate, as he’s owned by Matt’s parents, Micky and Sarah, brother Timmy and two grannies, Diana Connelly and Dot Love.

“To top it off, there was a lovely debut run from Ischgl to finish second in a two-year-old maiden at the Curragh and Soldante was a fast-finishing third at Tramore. Congratulations to all our owners, and a sincere thanks to everyone who is part of our hard-working team.”