The Spigot Lodge handler enjoyed a double on day one of the Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown on Saturday courtesy of Convergent and Fallen Angel and his latest representative was a heavily-supported 5-4 favourite on the back of an impressive debut at Leicester last month.

Always up with the pace in the hands of Clifford Lee, Alparslan came under pressure with over a furlong still to run, but the further he went the better he looked and he passed the post with three and a half lengths in hand over Magny Cours.

Burke said: “I’m delighted with him, he’s a lovely colt.

“We purposely left him for this race after he won his maiden. He’d improved a lot on that and we’ll obviously throw him into black-type races now and see how high we can take him.

“He’s workmanlike at home, he’s not a speed horse, so you never know until you get those horses on the track exactly what they’ve got under the bonnet.”

Paddy Power make Alparslan a 20-1 shot for next year’s 2000 Guineas, while he is 8-1 from 25-1 for the Dewhurst – but Burke suggested he could set his sights a little lower.

He added: “I’ll have to discuss it with Mohamed (Saeed Al Shehhi, owner) but I’d say he’ll go for a Listed race somewhere, or maybe the Horris Hill at Newbury might be a nice race for him as he obviously handles a bit of cut in the ground.”

Tango Flare was a 50-1 winner of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Bold Lad Sprint Handicap for trainer Pat Foley and jockey Luke McAteer, while the concluding Irish Stallion Farms EBF Northfields Handicap went the way of Johnny Murtagh’s 11-2 shot Shaool, ridden by Ben Coen.

Meanwhile, Jessica Harrington’s Barnavara led from pillar to post to land the Moyglare “Jewels” Blandford Stakes.

A winner at Listed and Group Three level in June, the three-year-old was last seen finishing third behind the reopposing 11-8 favourite Red Letter in the Group Three Snow Fairy Fillies Stakes at this venue a fortnight ago.

But stepping back up to a mile and a quarter, Barnavara (6-1) was soon bowling along in front in the hands of Shane Foley and having had the chasing pack in trouble from halfway up the straight, she kept pouring it on to score by three and a half lengths from One Look, with Red Letter back in third.

Harrington said: “She’s a fantastic filly and is improving all the time. She’s a big filly and with each race she gets better and better.

“I thought Hotazhell would run well yesterday and he did (fourth in Irish Champion Stakes), but she was my best chance because of her form and I thought every bit of rain was going to help her, because she will go on softer ground.

“She’ll go to Paris on Arc weekend for the Prix de l’Opera – she has to go there now. She’s won a Listed race, a Group Three and a Group Two, so a Group One is the natural way to go.”