Fairytale Princess produces astonishing results for Carroll

On the last day of the Guineas meeting at the Curragh, Fairytale Princess made the most of her running under Gary Carroll to emerge victorious in the concluding Fleetwood Paints Handicap.

The three-time Dundalk winner was making his maiden trip up to 1 mile and six furlongs and also recording his first turf victory.

The four-year-old, trained by Ger Lyons, was leading from the start and maintained a comfortable lead until the two-furlong mark.

At that moment, Grappo Nonino appeared to be a genuine threat from the pursuing bunch, but Fairytale Princess kept pulling ahead generously as Chris Hayes got lower in the saddle of the Dermot Weld-trained horse.

The former was out of contention at home, so the Lyons filly took command and won easily by three-and-a-quarter lengths.

Shane Lyons, brother and assistant trainer said, “She ran well over 1m4f in Roscommon on Monday and Colin said we could even drop her back in trip. Kevin (Blessing, owner) is a great supporter of ours and is very enthusiastic. He was adamant with the gene testing that she would get the trip with no problem. We were a bit worried about the ground with the rain but it was beautiful for a big filly like her. Thankfully we took a chance and it opens up a lot of options for her going forward. We’d love to get a bit of black type with her.”