Alexios Komnenos defeats the odds for Desmond Stakes success

Alexios Komnenos, a horse that gave Churchill one of the frights of his life in last year's Tyros Stakes but was later facing almost certain retirement through injury, handed trainer Fozzy Stack the most satisfying win of his short training career in the Group 3 Invesco Pension Consultants Desmond Stakes at Leopardstown on Thursday.

The sky seemed the limit 13 months ago, when Churchill defeated him by just a neck, with the Stacks relishing a rematch with the subsequent dual 2,000 Guineas winner in the National Stakes when disaster struck.

Stack recalled: "About a week before the National Stakes he got an infection in his hind suspensory [ligament]. They had to split the suspensory to wash the infection out and then they had to put in special maggots imported from England to attack the infection.