Roger Varian's Irish Derby hope Matsuri catches the eye in build-up to Sunday's Curragh Classic

Roger Varian was the sole customer on the recently reopened watered gallop on Racecourse Side on Tuesday morning but made the most of it by sending his Irish Derby hope Matsuri (Ray Dawson) over a mile on the facility bang on opening time of 6am.

Matsuri (Ray Dawson) and Roger Varian on Tuesday morning

Varian ran out of time to get the son of Sea The Stars to Epsom and had instead to run him under a penalty in a 1m2f novice at Leicester, where he enjoyed similar ease in the ground to score by eight lengths last month.

He cleared away from a senior Listed performer on this occasion, enjoying the 12mm of water that had been applied the previous day when battling temperatures of 28C.