Palmer is hoping lightning can strike twice at Naas

The fifth renewal of the €300,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes at Naas promises to be one of the most competitive yet with 54 juveniles standing their ground today for the feature race at Naas on Monday. 

Now firmly established in the racing calendar for trainers in Ireland and Britain, of the 54 horses remaining in contention for the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes, nine are trained by British-based trainers. 

Success went to Hugo Palmer last year and Palmer is once again represented for the Bank Holiday Monday showpiece with impressive Chester winner The Flying Seagull. 

“The Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes is a race we were keen to support having won it last year with Golden Trick and it is a great initiative of Joe Foley’s so we are looking forward to returning,” Palmer said on Wednesday. 
“We did have quite a large number of entries in the race but we have whittled it down to The Flying Seagull and we are hoping he can run well. 

“We were delighted with his win at Chester and then things just went a bit awkwardly for him back at Chester last time out. I thought he probably should have won that day but didn’t jump well and things just didn’t go right so he will have to put that behind him but we are looking forward to going back to Naas.”

Palmer added: “There is a big entry remaining so it is going to be a full field – as it should be for a race of that prize money – so hopefully the rain stays away. It is a great race for the owners and it would be lovely if we could win the race again.”

Of the 54 horses remaining, 19 of them have already won races with the Johnny Murtagh-trained Amazing Athena and Joe Murphy’s Shiota bringing course and distance success to Monday’s race. 

Aidan O’Brien, who won the first renewal of the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes in 2020, may be represented by Heavens Gate and Right And True, while Joseph O’Brien, who won the 2022 renewal has left in And So To Bed, Elzem, Midnight Strike and Pompano Beach. 
Andy Oliver saddled Bright Stripes to finish third last year and will be hoping to go a couple of places better on Monday with intriguing runner Orchidaceae, while having taken the fourth and fifth place prize money last year, Sheila Lavery is hoping to have multiple runners on Monday with Roaming Eyes, Dress Dance, Tino Pai, Fort Star and Vovatia all standing their ground for the Meath based trainer. 

Irish 2,000 Guineas winning trainer Richard Hannon is responsible for three of the potential runners, Maximus Alexios, Porthcurno and An Outlaw’s Grace. 

Li Ban and Violet Love may represent Raphael Freire and George Boughey respectively for owners Amo Racing, while Bath winner Spirited Dancer has been left in contention by Jack Channon.

Fresh from success in the Arqana Irish EBF Marwell Stakes last week, trainer Karl Burke may return to Naas for more big race glory, this time with Assertively looking to add this €150,000 prize to his Ripon maiden win earlier this year. 

Joe Foley, owner of Ballyhane Stud, commented: “It is phenomenal to have 54 horses still in contention at the five-day entry stage and with nine of them UK based it shows how this race continues to capture the attention of owners and trainers from both sides of the Irish Sea.
"A full field of 24 of these horses will get the chance to race next Monday and with prize money down to 12th place half of the field will come away with money ranging from €150,000 to €4,000. This shows how a valuable race like the €300,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes is such a centrepiece for connections of two year olds to target each year.”

Racegoers will also be able to get close up to the Lexus Melbourne Cup which will be on display at Naas Racecourse on Monday. An action-packed seven race card will begin at 2.20pm an further details can be found at naasracecourse.com