Saracen Knight shines as well-regarded Centroid fails to feature

Whether they all came to see him is unknown, but the Dermot Weld-trained Centroid looked the potential star turn of the replacement fixture at Naas on Tuesday evening.

The half-brother to Enable was sent off a 4-5 favourite to make it two out of two, but the reality proved far different as the son of Dansili failed to raise much of a gallop in the feature 1m4f conditions race, trailing in fourth of the five runners under Declan McDonogh, his fate looking sealed early in the straight.

The contest was won in taking style by the Ballydoyle colt Saracen Knight, who was afforded an uncontested lead under Donnacha O'Brien and took full advantage as he spreadeagled the opposition inside the final furlong to win by upwards of three-and-three-quarter lengths from the Harrington pair Boho and Holding Pattern.