Beset heads Devoy Stakes one-two for Joseph O’Brien

Beset made all to lead home a Joseph O’Brien one-two in the feature Irish Stallion Farms EBF Devoy Stakes at Naas.

Beset had the rail and battled it out with Iowa City as they entered the final two furlongs but the 11-4 five-year-old began to assert her authority on the race approaching the furlong make as she pulled clear.

Lemsairbat came out of the pack to pass Iowa City but was no match for her stablemate as she chased Beset home three lengths in arrears.

O’Brien said: “She’s a tough filly. She finished off the year great last year and she’s picked up where she left off.

“She likes soft ground so we had planned to start early and it’s great to win a stakes race early in the year.

“She stays well and handles the ground and in conditions like that they are two helpful things.

“She’ll probably go for a group race somewhere now. There is a race in Newbury over a mile-and-a-half.

“We’d like to find a bit of juice in the ground in group company, wherever that might be.

“She’d have options in France. In Ireland the Munster Oaks in Cork is probably the obvious race for her if the ground was soft.”

On runner-up Lemsairbat, he added: “It was probably a career best from her. She’ll probably come back to Gowran Park in a month. She likes a bit of juice in the ground too.”