The plug on Lord O’Reilly proved to be right on the money in the $85,000 Restricted Maiden race over 1400m on Friday night.

French jockey Ryan Curatolo in particular had been quite taken by the O’Reilly three-year-old’s debut run when second to Shamrock in a Restricted Maiden race over 1200m a month ago.

The former Macau-based rider had openly made Lord O’Reilly one of his best chances to give himself a bit of a healthy cushion as he heads for a two-day careless riding ban next week. With that latest success, Curatolo stays in third place on 12 wins, only three wins behind leader and reigning champion jockey Vlad Duric.

Lord O'Reilly (Ryan Curatolo) comes out tops in Race 2 on Friday, picture Singapore Turf Club

“He was a bit caught in traffic when he got stuck behind John Powell’s horse (Tauros) at his first start,” said Curatolo.

“But I felt he had matured a lot since. I ride him every morning and he felt a lot fitter.

“Tonight, my plan was to follow Lonhro Gold, who I felt was the horse to beat. He did give me a good cart-up till the winning post.

“I thought Olivier’s (Placais) horse would be a threat when he came on our outside, but we were able to hold him off quite well in the end.

“My horse was well prepared by Leslie and his staff, and I think the step-up to 1400m was also a major factor. I am just the pilot pushing the button.”

Khoo joined Curatolo in his appraisal of the MA Racing No 2 Stable-owned gelding, predicting a racing career over more ground in his future endeavours.

“The longer the better for this horse,” said the former jockey.

“He was very green at his first start. I wanted to put blinkers on tonight, but I was worried he might pull too hard.

“So, I went with winkers instead and it’s paid off. Ryan was quite confident with the horse and I have to say I expected a forward run from him, too.”

Punters concurred with the pair as they confidently backed Lord O’Reilly down to $12 favouritism, and he did not let any of them down.

After a smart jump from his low draw (2), Lord O’Reilly was quickly tucked away in the box-seat behind Beautiful Day (Benny Woodworth) and Lonhro Gold (Michael Rodd). From that point onwards, Curatolo rated his mount nicely, just waiting for the last 300m to pop the question, which Lord O’Reilly answered in the best possible way by collaring Beautiful Day with great aplomb.

Arc Raider, who had been hard-ridden by Placais from a long way out, stuck to the task on the outside to shape up as a potential party pooper while Beautiful Day was proving harder to shake off on the inside.

But Lord O’Reilly kept finding when the chips were down inside the last 100 yards to prevail by half-a-length from the challenging duo, who looked like they could not be split on the line, but the reverse mirror image of the photo finish showed that Beautiful Day had rallied late to save his runner-up spot by the barest of margins.