Showpiece meeting at Naas postponed until Friday
Danny Gilligan on the Ross O'Sullivan trained Raise You Up wins The Connolly`s Red Mills Irish EBF Auction Maiden Hurdle at Limerick Racecourse over the festive period Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan
The showpiece meeting at Naas Racecourse, including the Grade 1 Ballymore Novice Hurdle, will now take place this Friday after last Sunday’s scheduled meeting was postponed due to a frozen track.
An early decision was made, was IRHB Clerk of the Course Brendan Sheridan explained on Saturday afternoon on social media.
"Here in Naas on Saturday, having walked both tracks, parts of both tracks are frozen. Speaking with Met Eireann, temperatures got down as far as -2, or a little lower. Going forward, there’s a frost warning this evening from around 5pm. Temperatures this evening are to get down to around -3, -4 and tomorrow is not getting above freezing until around noon. With that in mind, and in consultation with the race track and everybody else involved, unfortunately we are going to have to cancel the meeting.
"It’s tough on Naas because there it was to be a great day of racing but this meeting will go ahead on Friday, weather permitting," he said.
That meeting on Friday will get underway at 12.45pm, all going well, and eyes will be trained upon the €100,000.00 Grade 1 Ballymore Novice Hurdle.
It remain to be seen how the change of date will impact the entries but if those go to the line as intended last Sunday then this will be the usual high standard of this race.
Sortudo, currently second in the market for the Turners Novices’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, was one that caught a lot of attention.
The Willie Mullins trained horse has won his last two races and was seventh in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham last year. He is looking to emulate Bob Olinger, who won this race at Naas and then went on to win the first race on the second day of the Festival later the same year.
However, with the pick of the Closutton ranks, the yard’s number 1 jockey Paul Townend picked the ride on Saint Baco which would be a strong indication in his favour.
Mullins has enjoyed great success in this race in the past, with nine previous winners - Homer Wells (2005), Mikael D’Haguenet (2009), Gagewell Flyer (2011), Briar Hill (2014), McKinley (2015), Bellshill (2016), Next Destination (2018), Champ Kiely (2023) and Readin Tommy Wrong (2024).
Gordon Elliott is another with a strong record in this race and after his fantastic run of form in the season so far, any of his horses have to be strongly regarded.
He had intended on saddling three horses for the race – Kovanis, Lord Rouge and Classical Creek, with Jack Kennedy taking the ride on the latter.
Elliott has trained the winner of this race on five occasions, including most recently when The Yellow Clay was first home last year.
Then there were outsiders, but all with their chances.
The Tony Mullins’ trained Letos already has an impressive win at Naas to his name this year while local trainer Ross O’Sullivan was intending to send Switch From Diesel, a very smart bumper horse from last season, into the race.
The south of the country was to represented by Waterford duo Henry de Bromhead and Declan Queally with Fruit De Mer and I’ll Sort That respectively.
Whether those horses will now stand their ground for Friday’s renewal remains to be seen but the whoever is in the race, the first Grade 1 of the year never fails to disappoint.
Elsewhere, Athy trainer Sean Byrne saddled his first winner of the season in the form of King Kali in the two-mile handicap hurdle at Limerick on December 27. Nurney jockey Kevin Sexton did the steering on the 6-1 chance who was having his second run back after an absence of 15 months off the track.
Kilcullen handler Sonny Carey enjoyed a fantastic double over the holidays, kicked off by 9-2 favourite The Nagger Reidy in a 2m4f handicap hurdle at Leopardstown under Dungourney, Co Cork rider Michael Kenneally who managed to eke out a nose verdict from the Barry Connell-trained outsider Hgranca De Thaix.
The same 7lb claiming rider obliged Carey again on New Year’s Eve at Punchestown when Lilannbee made all in the mares’ bumper, the final race in Ireland of 2025 to land some nice bets, well backed into 4-1 favourite in the colours of the trainer’s wife Mary Kilduff and friend Kevin Cooke.
Kill trainer Ross O’Sullivan was not to be denied a festival result and was on hand to watch Raise You Up make all and readily land a maiden hurdle at Limerick on testing ground by over four lengths at odds of 15-8 favourite in the hands of Danny Gilligan from Athenry in Galway.
Clonmel - Thursday January 8 (first race 12.20pm)
Naas (rescheduled) - Friday January 9 (first race 12.45pm)
Dundalk Friday - January 9 (first race 4,30pm)
Fairyhouse - Saturday January 10 (first race 12.00pm)
Punchestown - Sunday January 11 (first race 12.20pm)
