McCoy rides winner on return to saddle while Search For A Song wins Irish St Leger

Pat Smullen celebrates after AP wins on Quizical

Anthony McCoy returned to the saddle to ride a winner on Quizical in the Pat Smullen Champions Race For Cancer Trials Ireland at the Curragh.

McCoy, 45, who retired in 2015, finished ahead of old friend and rival Ruby Walsh, on Aussie Valentine.

In the Irish St Leger, Search For A Song, ridden by Chris Hayes and trained by Dermot Weld finished ahead of Kew Gardens with Southern France third.

Victory on the three-year-old marked a second win in the race for Hayes.

The 32-year-old previously triumphed six years ago on Voleuse De Cours.

Smullen, the nine-time Irish champion flat jockey who is being treated for pancreatic cancer, persuaded McCoy and eight other former top jockeys, including Walsh and Kieren Fallon, to come out of retirement to take part in the flat race which has raised more than 2m Euro for cancer research. He could not fulfil plans to ride himself because of his illness.

McCoy, the 20-time champion jump jockey of Britain who was successful in a record 4,357 races, had previously said he would not race-ride again.

On the same card, the unbeaten colt Pinatubo, part of Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin horse racing and breeding empire, again advertised his Classic credentials for 2020 with a spectacular success under jockey William Buick in the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes on Irish flat racing's Champions Weekend.

The colt, trained by Charlie Appleby and now with five wins from five starts, is an even stronger favourite for the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in May after a nine-length romp.

The result was especially significant for Buick who missed the first four wins because of what's described as 'post head-injury syndrome' following a fall which kept him out of the saddle from May to August.

'The horse named after a volcano erupted' - analysis

BBC horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght

This was the most striking performance by a two-year-old for some time - perhaps since Frankel blew away his opponents in the Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot in September 2010.

There's one difference, though. That was achieved in a race staged at Group Two level - though the well-beaten third Treasure Beach turned into a talented horse - while this was a major Group One. And, wow, the horse named after a volcano absolutely erupted.

It was extra special for William Buick, who's had an anxious summer, but no doubt the thought of getting back for a champion like this kept up his spirits.