ENTRIES for the Grade 1 Lawlor’s Of Naas Novice Hurdle were revealed today with 20 horses in contention for the richest renewal of the two-mile-four-furlong contest.
Lawlor’s Of Naas, the landmark hotel in the middle of Kildare’s county town, has recently undergone an upgrade that has been matched with a hike in prize money for Naas Racecourse’s feature jumps race on January 8th.
Bob Olinger, Envoi Allen, Bellshill and Rule The World are just a selection of some of the novice hurdlers that have triumphed in the early January showpiece and last year’s winning trainer, Gordon Elliott supplies arguably the strongest hand.
Elliott won the Lawlor’s Of Naas Novice Hurdle last season with Ginto and he's landed this race three of the last four renewals. The Robcour-owned duo of Absolute Notions and the recent Grade 1 runner-up, Irish Point heads his six-strong team for 2023.
Willie Mullins is an eight-time winner of the Lawlor’s Of Naas Novice Hurdle but hasn’t saddled the victor since Next Destination prevailed in 2018, almost a drought in Irish Grade 1 terms for the perennial champion trainer.
However, Champ Kiely, Gaelic Warrior, Grangeclare West, Il Etait Temps, Intranet, and Spanish Harlem give the Closutton maestro plenty of options for next months renewal.
Joseph O’Brien continues to make his mark on National Hunt racing, despite having a reduced string of horses to go jumping with this season. The Carriganóg Racing boss is strongly considering 2023’s opening Grade 1 race for Dawn Rising who was third to Champ Kiely in a Galway maiden in July.
Since Galway, Dawn Rising has stamped his authority in Grade 3 company by lowering the colours of the highly-touted novice American Mike in convincing fashion.
O’Brien said today: “Dawn Rising stays well and has been a progressive horse, coming forward for each run this year. His run in Galway was his first run in a long while so he came on a lot for that and has improved every race since.”
JP McManus has yet to land this Grade 1 prize but in addition to the aforementioned Intranet and Dawn Rising, he could also be represented by the likes of Inothewayurthinkin, trained by Gavin Cromwell, and Inthepocket, whose preparations are overseen by Henry de Bromhead.
One of the most heartwarming stories of 2023 would be written if Oliver McKiernan could land the spoils with the fascinating Kalanisi Star.
McKiernan trains in Rathcoole, just a short spin from Naas Racecourse, and he could well have a horse to bring him back to the very top level in the five-year-old son of Kalanisi.
McKiernan’s novice was a 16-length winner of a bumper last season before opening his account over hurdles at Gowran Park last month.
It is just over a year since Kalanisi Star won his point-to-point at Corbeagh House and in doing so defeated Rare Edition, a horse now unbeaten in three outings for Charlie Longsdon.
“I thought if the ground was soft in Naas, he’d probably run there though he does have an entry at Christmas as well and he’ll do one or the other,” McKiernan said.
McKiernan continued: “He appears to be a relaxed horse and things seem to come easy to him. “You’d hope that he has more improvement in him given his inexperience.
“You’d love to have a runner in a Grade 1 at your local track and I always like to have a winner in Naas."
Joyeux Machin recently won the first division of a maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse, in a much quicker time than Facile Vega won the second division of the race and the son of Saddler Maker is an intriguing entry for Paul Nolan.
Noel Meade’s Affordale Fury was still in contention when falling at Navan on his latest start, leaving Dawn Rising to pick up the pieces. He's another who could prove to be a strong contender for honours.