A combination of 10st 1lb and a certain ring rustiness combined to beat Ebadiyla in yesterday's Ballycullen Stakes at Leopardstown but the filly is still on course to land the third Classic of her illustrious career in the Irish St Leger next month.

"She blew up. She came to win and just got tired. I'm not surprised by that," explained John Oxx after his Irish Oaks and Prix Royal Oak winner went down by a length and a half to the English challenger On Call.

The Mark Prescott-trained On Call is rated in the low 80's in Britain but is a prolific winner and was receiving 24lb from oddson Ebadiyla.

George Duffield made full use of the weight pull, kicking On Call clear on the turn-in from Geisha Girl and although Ebadiyla briefly cruised up behind her with characteristic panache, she quickly came under pressure. Ebadiyla closed again having got her breath but Oxx was happy with the race as a Leger prep'.

"I would have been very happy if she had struggled to win but I was quite expecting her to blow up. It was a nice run in terms of the Leger," he said.

Oxx may have been satisfied but Prescott was positively bouyant. "On Call is one of those lovely horses who just goes and does it. She's won six off the reel in handicaps in England and it's wonderful to win when you don't expect to. She's in races in Rome, Germany and France at the back end and we'll see," the Newmarket trainer said.

Whatever tinge of disappointment Oxx may have been feeling was surely diluted by the impressive winning debut of Ebadiyla's half sister Edabiya in the Debutante Stakes.

Different in looks and juvenile precocity, Edabiya looked a real prospect as she put a length and a half between herself and Sunspangled despite having to race in the aftermath of a severe rain shower.

"I wasn't happy to see the rain as first time up they can put their nose up but the good ones don't seem to worry about it. She is very nice and has a lot more speed as a two year old than her sister. Time will tell if she improves as much. She's in the Moyglare and the Fillies Mile at Ascot. They are options," Oxx said.

Another pair of relations to figure prominently yesterday were Leave Me Alone, the winner of the Obelisk Handicap, and her halfbrother, Immovable Option, who ultimately was an easy winner of the Glenalua Maiden.

Immovable Option figured in an incident the stewards inquired into where Donatus wasn't done any favours before the furlong pole. No action was taken and Immovable Option will be a formidable opponent in the Listed Round Tower Stakes over six furlongs on Moyglare day.

"He was unlucky at Galway but is a pretty adaptable colt with stacks of pace. The Round Tower is an obvious race for him and hopefully Mr (Walter) Haefner will be there to watch him," said Dermot Weld.

Leave Me Alone benefited from coming up the centre of the track on ground that was changed to yielding before the fourth race to beat Bellfan by three and a half lengths. "That was the plan and it worked," said Weld who notched a double with jockey Pat Smullen.

The Irish Cambridgeshire is next on the agenda for Markskeepingfaith who won the Strathmore Handicap by a snug half a length for Shane Kelly while Oxx and John Murtagh were deprived of a double by the minimum margin in the last with Royal Dane just getting up to beat Khaliandak.

The bumper at Fairyhouse on Saturday turned into a sport of a different colour when jockey Alan Fleming was given a 30-day ban for punching one of his colleagues during the race. Gerry Kearns told the stewards that Fleming struck him with his fist and "connected with the jaw bone" as they rode Cappy Lad and Fly By Wire respectively up the straight.

Kearns added that Fleming had been shouting for room on the inside but he was unable to give it to him, after which Fleming switched to the outside. Fleming told the stewards that he had been about to drop his whip, snatched for it "and may have accidentally made contact with Mr Kearns."

The stewards took a dim view of the incident, however, and suspended the amateur jockey for 30 racing days for improper riding, from August 31st to October 11th.

Mark Johnston, the Middleham trainer, sent out Tadeo to win the Listed Belgrave Stakes. Riding at the course for the first time, Dean McKeown set out to make all the running on the 7 to 2 favourite which drew clear in good style close home to win by three lengths from the Jim Bolger-trained Dane River.

Johnston was represented by his Blarney-born head lad Brendan Holland, who said: "It is an easy six furlongs here, and this suited our fellow. This race was possibly not as competitive as the races he has been running in at home."

Space Trucker will run in next Wednesday's Guinness Gold Cup at Tralee following his success in the Rathbeggan Handicap, and another bound for the Kerry Festival is Husun, a comfortable winner of the Thrill Of Ownership Handicap.

Mark Johnston experienced mixed fortunes in Switzerland yesterday, with Celestial Key proving the Middleham trainer's bright spot at Dielsdorf, Zurich. Ridden by Swedish amateur Peter Jarven, Celestial Key won the Grosser Preis der Neuen Zeitung over nine furlongs by two and a quarter lengths from Mill King.Celestial Key was a 16 to 10 chance on the Tote. However, favourite Cloud Inspector, ridden by Jason Weaver, disappointed in his bid to score a repeat win in the 15-furlong Oerlikon Buhrle Immobilien Preis and finished a well-beaten ninth to Shturm.