Bolger previously won this race in 2013 with Dawn Approach - the sire of Poetic Flare - but this latest victory will mean even more as it came in his wife Jackie's silks.

As ever, Bolger chose his son-in-law Kevin Manning to take the place in the saddle, meaning the Classic success was a real family victory.

Handy throughout as Naval Crown set a very stiff gallop, the winner found himself right in the firing line with a furlong to run.

Master Of The Seas made great progress for William Buick and the pair of them battled it out, with Lucky Vega just behind in third.

It came down to a matter of who had their head down right on the line as they flashed by together, with the Irish raider getting the verdict by a short head and a neck.
None of Aidan O'Brien's trio were ever involved, while Thunder Moon was among the first beaten.

Poetic Flare in action

Manning said: "He's usually a very switched off horse who takes everything in his stride, but he left the gates very quick and on the wrong note and it just took a furlong and a half or two furlongs to reorganise and get into a rhythm.
"He's very smart and has done it very well. He travelled well and picked up well.
"He just caught me off guard coming out of the gates and I had to sit and suffer, but I didn't feel he was taking as much out of himself as it might have looked.

"Going down into the dip, when he quickened up I thought he'd put it to bed. In the last five or six strides he was just idling a little bit and coming back underneath me."

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