By popular repute Naas is a punters graveyard but trying to predict if Sunday’s first Grade One fixture of 2025 beats the weather is proving particularly difficult.
Officials at the Co Kildare track concede “fine margins” will decide if the Lawlor’s of Naas Novice Hurdle programme can go ahead after a 7.30am inspection on Sunday morning. Like much of the rest of the country the anxious wait is to see if either rain of snow falls there overnight into Sunday.
“The issue is whether we get snow or rain. The met office is being vague, not on purpose, but because they don’t know themselves. It’s all fine margins and we probably won’t know until it happens. That’s how fine margin it is,” said Naas manager Aidan McGarry.
“At the moment it looks like being sleet/rain, but we don’t know for sure. We just hope we’re lucky on Saturday night and into Sunday morning. We’re perfectly raceable today. There was no frost in the ground at 9.00 this morning,” he added.
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Night-time temperatures are forecast to get close to zero this weekend, with snow possible at Naas from 6pm Saturday.
“There is no frost tomorrow night but there is rain or snow moving through tomorrow night into Sunday. It is uncertain whether it will be rain, snow or sleet. But in light of the forecast we will have an inspection on Sunday morning at 7.30,” confirmed the Naas clerk of the course Brendan Sheridan.
Before that Cork’s Saturday card will have to pass an 8am morning inspection as the New Years starts with a severe cold snap.
“There is a possibility it could drop to minus two degrees again tonight,” Cork’s clerk of the course Val O’Connell said on Friday. “Temperatures are to rise throughout tomorrow morning with rain coming from 9am. There is a Status Yellow snow and rain warning in place from 1pm tomorrow afternoon so we will keep monitoring that situation. We look like we will get 3-4mm of rainfall prior to racing tomorrow and the heaviest to come thereafter.”
The unpredictability of Ireland’s winter weather was underlined during Christmas when Leopardstown’s first two festival days were marred by foggy conditions that had not been forecast at all.
Fog also blighted last year’s big Grade One day at Naas when racing had to be cancelled after one race. The €100,000 feature was eventually run the following Friday when Willie Mullins filled the frame with Readin Tommy Wrong scoring at 16/1.
The champion trainer is set to saddle half of the eight runners on Sunday with little doubt that Jasmin De Vaux is the stable number one. Last season’s Champion Bumper winner at Cheltenham – the horse that famously propelled his trainer through the festival “century” mark last March – made an impressive debut over flights at Navan last month.
The two horses that chased him home, The Enabler and Workahead, both won maidens at Leopardstown last month so the form looks rock solid, while a half mile extra trip should suit such a strong bumper performer.
The Yellow Clay tops a Gordon Elliott pair of hopefuls and is proven at the trip, while Henry De Bromhead’s hope, the unbeaten Butch Cassidy, is related to the ill-fated but brilliant bumper star Fayonagh.
Ile Atlantique started a warm favourite for last year’s big race only to fail to live up to expectations, both then and afterwards. After impressing on his debut over fences at Navan last month the worry could be a repeat of that slide in Sunday’s Grade Two Racing Post Chase.
However, Ile Atlantique looked a natural over the bigger obstacles when putting Waterford Whispers and Good Land in their place and may build on that this time.
He will have to as among his four opponents are Firefox and Inthepocket. The latter has a first start since October, while Firefox is dropped to two miles having finished third in the Drinmore at Fairyhouse.
Croke Park boosted that form over Christmas as did the Drinmore runner-up Heart Wood with an admirable fourth to Galopin Des Champs in the Savills at Leopardstown.
“It looks like chases have improved Ile Atlantique like we thought they might, and the tongue strap has helped him as well. I think Naas as a track will suit him and he was obviously just touched off on this card last year. But he will have to raise his game to get to the level that Firefox and Inthepocket have ran to over hurdles,” Patrick Mullins reported on Friday.
The sport’s most successful ever amateur jockey is an interesting booking in Sunday’s opening Mares Beginners Chase aboard Fun Fun Fun. Carrying the well-known “Double Green” colours of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, who earlier this week appointed JJ Slevin as Daryl Jacob’s successor as the ownership’s number one rider, Fun Fun Fun was a Grade Three winner over flights at Naas last season.
Lantry Lady is one of a pair of Henry De Bromhead hopefuls in this, and should, hopefully, Naas be lucky and get drenched in rain rather than covered in snow, Darragh O’Keeffe’s mount will relish a deep-ground stamina test.
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