A cracking card at Deauville, featuring two Group 3s for the Classic generation, the Prix Djebel (colts and geldings) and the Prix Imprudence (fillies).
However, our bet on the card is in the 7f maiden which splits those two races, with National Bank too big a price to turn down on his seasonal reappearance.
The son of Dubawi made a really encouraging debut over a mile on good ground at Saint-Cloud last September, finishing fourth behind a couple of useful yardsticks, and in front of a subsequent class 2 winner. He was never sighted over 6.5f on his only subsequent outing, which came on very testing ground, and at a time when his yard’s horses were out of form.
After a very successful first couple of seasons as a trainer, Henri Devin has had a couple of years to forget, but there have been some bright signs in the past month, with maiden winners at Chantilly and Saint-Cloud included in his four winners from the yard’s last 18 runners.
National Bank’s brother was a dual-winning miler rated 88 in the UK and the dam was very smart, finishing fourth in the Sandringham at Royal Ascot and then winning the Group 3 Sceptre at Doncaster over 7f.
The Fabre-trained Hybrid is entitled to step up on his debut form but looked no world-beater at Fontainebleau, while the other three towards the top of the market are by Lethal Force, Outstrip and Literato, and holes can easily be picked in their form (or, in the case of Gunma, the form of the yard).
2.20pm Deauville – 1pt win National Bank @ 12-1 (all firms, 14-1 with Bet365)
