16:00 Naas

Monday 23 March 2020

All14:0014:3015:0015:3016:0016:3017:00

Devoy Stakes (Listed)

Off time: 16:00 | Winning time: 2m 23.06s

(2)

Sir Dragonet¹⁹¹

Age: 4| Weight: 9-12| J: J A Heffernan| T: A P O'Brien| OR: 117

8/15

Started favourite for The Derby five and a bit weeks after his debut and led 2f out before finishing a close fifth. Did not live up to that in his two subsequent starts but in the St Leger that was seemingly down to the 1m6½f trip. The one to beat.

Form: 11544-

(7)

Insignia Of Rank^b²⁴

Age: 5| Weight: 9-10| J: Gary Carroll| T: J G Murphy| OR: 97| D

40/1

Bits of useful form over 1m-1m4f, most of it on much better ground than this but he did win on soft in 2018. Below form on last three starts and his best probably is not good enough to win.

Form: 00489-5

(4)

Brogue³¹⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 9-7| J: O J Orr| T: D K Weld| D

6/1

Well bred. 10-1, came from off the pace when winning a 13-runner maiden at Cork (1m2f, good) last May by ½L, which was a highly promising start but he's not been seen since. The second and fourth soon turned out to be useful.

Form: 1-

(3)

Halimi^p¹⁴¹

Age: 4| Weight: 9-7| J: K J Manning| T: J S Bolger| OR: 97| CD

13/2

Wore cheekpieces in the autumn on last three starts, winning over C&D before very good placed efforts over 1m4f and 1m6f. All three were handicaps in the mud. The best of today's rivals demand a bit more from him.

Form: 373123-

(5)

Nickajack Cave¹⁶³

Age: 4| Weight: 9-7| J: Colin Keane| T: G M Lyons| OR: 97| D

14/1

Good third in Listed race at Limerick (1m4½f, heavy) in October on final start but he needs to raise his game in this company.

Form: 212553-

(6)

Numerian¹⁷⁸

Age: 4| Weight: 9-7| J: Declan McDonogh| T: J P O'Brien| OR: 104

15/2

Useful for most of 2019 and the best of that form (on last three starts, in two valuable handicaps and a Group 3) suggests a very prominent finish at these weights. However, he's never raced on worse than good to soft.

Form: 356322-

(1)

Satisfy¹⁷⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 9-2| J: S Foley| T: B A Murphy| OR: 78

100/1

Acts on heavy but sole win was in 2017 (missed nearly all of 2018) and she's never shown better than fair form, so this looks a very stiff task.

Form: 70/0580-

Forecasts

Sir Dragonet (8/15), Brogue (6/1), Halimi (13/2), Numerian (15/2), Nickajack Cave (14/1), Insignia Of Rank (40/1), Satisfy (100/1)

Last year's Derby favourite at Epsom, SIR DRAGONET won his debut on yielding to soft ground and sets a high standard if he also proves effective on today's going. Returning to 1m2f (tried once, on his penultimate start) asks another question of him but he probably has too much class for this field. The most interesting of his rivals is Dermot Weld's Juddmonte representative Brogue, whose solitary race was a very promising win last May. Numerian and Halimi look best of the rest.