Devonshire - one of two classic fillies for Fast Company

DEVONSHIRE (IRE) - 2012 bay filly

Darley tweeted a picture yesterday of their latest stallion recruit arriving safely at Kildangan Stud. The 11-year-old began his career at Rathasker Stud, spent this season at Overbury Stud, and his move comes about in part due a pair of fillies who lit up a recent classic meeting in Ireland.

Fast Company was trained by Saeed bin Suroor and the son of Danehill Dancer (by Danehill) ran just three times. He made a three-length winning debut over seven furlongs at Salisbury, followed-up with a three and a half length score in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes at York, and then failed by half a length to end the winning run of undefeated juvenile champion New Approach in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket. Raven's Pass was two and a half lengths further back in third and Rio De La Plata was fourth, making it a strong edition of that prestigious event, and Fast Company earned a Timeform figure of 126 for his performance.

He has been popular at the sales since his first foals appeared in the auction ring, he has covered large books, and he made a quick start as his first runners included Baitha Alga, winner of the Listed Woodcote Stakes at Epsom and then the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot. His third crop includes Val Nanda, who won a five and a half furlong listed contest for juveniles at Capannelle last month, and his second crop features Jet Setting.

That €7,000 foal, produced from a €3,000 mare, is the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas heroine of 2016. She has won three of her four starts since joining the Adrian Keatley stable, she is catalogued as Lot 43 in the Goffs London Sale on 13th June, and I reviewed her pedigree in The Irish Field in April.

The day before Jet Setting beat Minding by a head at the Curragh, another daughter of Fast Company starred at the same venue. The Willie McCreery-trained Devonshire, who represents Fast Company's first crop, beat last year's Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (French 1000 Guineas) runner-up Irish Rookie by two lengths to take the Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes over a mile.

This was only a third win from 15 starts for Devonshire, but she too was a classic filly in 2015 as she chased home Pleascach and Found in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas. Both she and Irish Rookie are entered in next week's Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Jet Setting is in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes.

Devonshire was bred by Patrick Burns of Newlands House Stud, brother of Rathasker Stud's Maurice Burns, and she is one of two blacktype winners out of Nova Tor (by Trans Island), a mare who won six times over the minimum trip, three of them on the artificial tracks. She carries the famous Godolphin colours and she cost €100,000 at the Goffs Sportsman Yearling Sale.

The classic-placed Group 2 scorer is her dam's third foal, her year-older half-sister Hurryupharriet (by Camacho) won the Listed Harry Rosebery Stakes over five furlongs at Ayr as a juvenile, and their two-year-old full-brother, who made €85,000 at the Goffs Orby Sale in September, has been named Veneer of Charm.

Nova Tor is out of an unplaced mare called Nordic Living (by Nordico) but all seven of her siblings that raced were winners. They include Kisella (by Mujadil) and Yungaburra (by Fath), who won nine times apiece, and also Titian Saga (by Titus Livius), the juvenile six-furlong Newmarket scorer whose daughter Hay Chewed (by Camacho) won the Listed Land O'Burns Fillies' Stakes over the minimum trip at Ayr two years ago.

That five-year-old is now trained by Conrad Allen, she has been unplaced in the Group 3 Palace House Stakes and in the 'Dash' at Epsom on her first two starts of the season, and she holds an entry in next week's Group 1 King's Stand Stakes at Ascot. Like Devonshire, she was bred by Newlands House Stud.

Nordic Living was one of only two foals out of the dual juvenile winner To Die For (by Diesis), her half-brother Long Beach (by Imperial Frontier) was a precocious dual five-furlong winner at two, and her dam was out of the Grade 3-placed US listed handicap scorer Bally Knockan (by Exclusive Native).

That mare was also responsible for the Grade 3 Laurel Futurity winner River Traffic (by Irish River), a colt whose blacktype placings featured third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby and third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Turf Cup, and she was out of Ferly (by Traffic Judge), a nine-times scorer who won a Grade 3 handicap.

​Devonshire is rated 109, one pound lower than the mark she was on after her classic third last year, and although that is low for a Group 1-placed Group 2 scorer, that will not matter when she retires to the paddocks. There should be more good prizes to be won with her before her racing career comes to an end, and there is every reason to hope that she could produce one or more offspring who are at least as talented as she is.