Mulvany set to Bid for Naas feature

Flat racing returns to Naas Racecourse on Sunday with the Irish Racing Writers Cliff Noone Memorial Madrid Handicap one of the feature races. 
The seven furlong contest was famously won by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Paddington on his path to a memorable season with multiple Group 1 success following his seasonal debut at Naas. 
O’Brien will be represented by top weight Military who won his maiden at Naas last season before finishing placed in Group 3 company after that. 
Opposition to Military will come from 11 rivals with O’Brien’s two sons saddling runners. Joseph O’Brien will saddle Down Royal maiden winner Sluice, while Gavin Ryan will once again partner Leopardstown winner Guildenstern for Donnacha O’Brien. 

Trainer Ger Lyons is double handed in the race saddling My Mate Alfie and Duplantis, while Jessica Harrington has also declared two fillies with Naas winner Glamorously and Shane Foley booked to ride Heavenly Being. 
The Michael Mulvany-trained Bid For Chester was a winner at Navan last season and also picked up some notable prize money when running fine races at Naas in both the €100,000 Goffs Sportsman’s Challenge and the €120,000 Irish EBF Auction Series Final Race where he finished fifth and third respectively behind King Cuan on both occasions. 
Bid For Chester has shown an ability to handle varying ground and only failed to collect prize money on one of his nine outings to date. 
“It’s his first run of the season but he has got plenty of work done and we are hoping for a good run,” Michael Mulvany said today.
“He did run well at Naas last season a couple of times and we were finding out a little bit about him along the way with each run last year. We think he is a good horse so we are hoping he can run well on his first run back on Sunday.”
The Jack Davison-trained Take Me To Church has the benefit of a victory under his belt already this year having won at Dundalk last month, while the Jim Bolger-trained Neo Smart was a winner at the Louth venue in November last year. 
The Josh Halley-trained Gentileschi and Signor Ferrari trained by John Feane complete a competitive line-up for the €45,000 feature.

Seven runners are declared for the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Devoy Stakes which itself has been won by some good horses in the past. 
The Dermot Weld-trained is an intriguing lightly raced four-year-old who will be the mount of Chris Hayes, while Wayne Lordan rides the Aidan O’Brien representative Queenstown who won his maiden at the Curragh last term. 
The Andrew Slattery-trained Sunchart is the highest-rated runner in the field and Serious Challenge makes a quick reappearance for Jim Bolger having finished seventh in the Irish Lincolnshire last week. 

A seven-race card gets underway at 1.25pm and the opening Flat fixture of the season at Naas will once again feature three races sponsored by Compas Stallions. This is the fourth year that Compas Stallions have sponsored at Naas and the opening Dubawi Legend Irish EBF Fillies Maiden has produced two Classic winners in recent years. The race was won by Empress Josephine in 2021 before she won the Irish 1000 Guineas and Tuesday opened her account here prior to landing the English Oaks. 
Micheál Orlandi of Compas Stallions has once again kindly committed to a free stallion nomination for the four Compas Stallions races on the card. The breeder of the winning horse will get a free stallion nomination for the stallion associated with the respective race. 

The smallest field of the day may well still be one of the more fascinating races on the card as while just five go to post for the TRM Equine Nutrition Race, it looks a very interesting race. 
Course and distance winner Chicago Critic lines up for Johnny Murtagh and Ben Coen, while the Group 1 placed Portland is Aidan O’Brien’s only runner. Orderofthephoenix has been purchased by Team Valor International since winning at Dundalk last season and looks a promising filly for Ado McGuinness, while Galway winner Purple Lily is a filly of note for Paddy Twomey.  Jim Bolger’s Nativity Square is the only maiden among the five declarations. 
In addition to the race, Naas Racecourse is also teaming up with TRM to begin a Best Turned Out League for the hard working grooms involved with the horses this flat season.