NAAS Racecourse will stage the third running of the €300,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes on Monday and it’s the first edition to be run without crowd restrictions.

“We’re delighted to have racegoers back this year,” says racecourse manager Eamonn McEvoy. “We were lucky to be allowed race behind closed doors during Covid, and very appreciative that we could still work, but those racedays without the public were monotonous.”

Monday’s fixture should have a real bank holiday atmosphere, coming on the back of a series of well-attended summer barbecue meetings at the track. “Attendances have been good this year,” Eamonn reported. “Maybe there’s a certain cohort who have been slow to come out post-Covid but our barbecue evenings have been brilliant and we are putting on another barbecue on Monday. It’s going down very well.”

Declarations for the feature race will be revealed this morning (Saturday). Among the entries to catch the eye are the Ger Lyons-trained Apricot Twist, who won a maiden over this course and distance recently, and her stable companion Slan Abhaile, who has already performed creditably in stakes company.

Others of note include the Andy Oliver-trained As It Was, who impressed on her debut with victory at Navan, Karl Burke’s York scorer Cold Case, and Windsor winner Eminency for trainer Clive Cox.

There are several maidens engaged who also worthy of a place in the line-up, including Ancestral Land (Clive Cox), Basil Martini (Joseph O’Brien), Clounmacon (Johnny Murtagh), Skip James (Ger Lyons) and Drunk In Love (Michael O’Callaghan).

The race is confined to horses who are EBF eligible and whose sire established one or more yearling sales in the relevant year with a median price of not more than €75,000. Prize money goes down to 12th place.

Eamonn is hoping to see a good few British-trained runners declared. There were five last year and three in 2020, and that was when cross-channel travel was very difficult.

“We won’t know until declaration time who’s coming but we have provisionally booked some accommodation for travelling grooms. Personally, I love seeing the international competition,” Eamonn said.

“Joe Foley [Ballyhane Stud and Irish EBF] has really put huge effort behind this race and deserves huge credit. He approached Horse Racing Ireland with the concept and it has evolved from there.”

Whatever the final line-up, racegoers will be getting great value for their €15 admission fee. “We have kept our ticket prices down as we want to see as many people as possible coming through the gates,” explained the manager. “Our own members have been very loyal to us and we are delighted to see them back. I’d ask the public to consider buying tickets in advance online, as it gives our caterers an idea of how many to expect.”