King Cuan claimed his second success of the season - and sixth of his career - when defying a penalty in the Listed Bahrain Turf Club Knockaire Stakes at Leopardstown.

The gelded son of Tasleet was stepping up to an extended mile for the first time, having been successful over seven furlongs in a Listed event at the Curragh earlier in the month, and duly saw it out well under Billy Lee to beat Aidan O'Brien's 20/1 shot Lewis Carroll under Wayne Lordan.

The 5/2 winner had half a length in hand at the line and Twomey said on Racing TV: “He is a horse that has fundamental class, he’s always had it. He had it as a two-year-old and he’s shown it the last couple of days.

“He just has ability. A few people said to me he won’t get the mile, I said you’ll see – he’ll get it. He has that bit of class. He’s versatile, he’s tough, but the one thing he has is lots and lots of ability.

“Billy said he was flat out, they were going flat to the boards and I could see on the TV he was flat out. He nursed him into it and he likes him. The horse did it well, he was comfortable at the line.

“One of the syndicate members suggested if they’re going to allow geldings in the Arc then they might want to go a mile and a half now! On a serious note, he carried the penalty, he’s run on quicker ground he’s run on for a while. He’s a tough horse.

“He doesn’t have to get his toe in but I’ve been minding him. He has Group 1 ability, but he’s not the sounded horse so you have to train him very carefully. There’s a big engine in there.”

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