LAST weekend is the only time in the year when Naas race on consecutive days, and the seven yards of fresh ground around the inside on Sunday proved vital to races on the round course.

Horses that were forward, drawn low and raced towards the rail were at an advantage as the stalls and in-running line of the six winners on the round track suggest:

Stall 2 – tracked leaders

Stall 2 – rear of mid-division before tracking leaders

Stall 5 – led a mile from home

Stall 7 – tracked leaders

Stall 11 – lead early than tracked pace

Stall 5 – made most

As such, most of the winners were seen to good effect to the point of being flattered. Diamonds And Dames was a dominant six-length winner of the Irish EBF Auction Series Race Final and might have won in any circumstances but hugged the rail throughout and got the gap when it was needed.

The third, Letmeentertainyou, had an unkinder trip through the race, drawn 10 and racing in rear, doing best of those held up. He made a big move up the middle of the track in the straight and while not finishing off as well as he had done at Listowel, that was likely due to running on poached ground that had been raced on the previous day.

Another chance

The one and two in the Garnet Stakes were drawn in the two lowest stalls and had the race between them in the finish but the gambled-on Rebel Wave had no chance from her track position and is probably worth another chance.

Backed from 15/2 to 7/2 on the show to continue her progression, she could manage only ninth but her stall 14 meant she was racing on the unfavoured part of the track and her rider accepted defeat in the final furlong.

Beset was probably the best-backed runner on the entire card and looked an unlucky loser in the Bluebell Stakes. She lost her position mid-race and was one of the first off the bridle but responded well to pressure having been forced to challenge toward the middle of the track, not helped by a bump inside the final furlong and only beaten a half-length.

Deressa was also involved in that bumping and shaped well from stall 11. Returning from an 111-day break, she travelled as well as any before finishing fourth and while she got more onto the fresh ground late, she had done plenty of running in the wrong part of the track.

The fifth, Chablis Rock, was drawn in 12 and could never get in but made good late headway. An unexposed sort, she looks to have improved since returning from a mid-season break but that is not reflected in her mark of 89 and she is one that can do better if kept in training next season.

Off the pace

There were some notably slow mid-race splits in the Colm White Bookmaker Beggar’s End Handicap, and it was hard to come from of the pace, the winner Abbotsford tracking the leaders and enjoying the slower surface.

Factual Fact was drawn in stall eight but never had a good position and had to challenge wide, doing quite well in the circumstances, while Thisistheway never had a chance from her position in the rear of the field.

Her flat mark is high enough for what she had achieved but she is a capable sort over hurdles and has a good record in similar races in that sphere.

THE sprint track at Naas last Saturday rode as fair as it has all year, winners coming from across the track, though a prominent early position on the round course was a help. Feature among those sprints was the historic Birdcatcher Nursery though it seemed a shadow of itself both in terms of field size and class.

Seven runners went to post after a non-runner, well below the average field size of 13 runners since 2010 though there were two other years when only seven took their chance. More concerning might be the lack of class as all the runners were grouped in a narrow ratings band between 82 and 88. For context, there had been 51 horses rated 90 or higher to take part in the race since 2010, an average of three per year.

That this came in a year when HRI sought to boost the race by adding a bonus of €20,000 for winning one of three qualifying races was both disappointing and surprising though perhaps the sales race the following day over a furlong further drew some runners away from the Birdcatcher.

All that said, it produced an impressive winner in Pink Venom who swept from last to winning going away. She has gone from 67 to 98 in her last three starts and was not the only big improver from the Johnny Murtagh yard to win recently, Fixation successful on Friday night at Dundalk. He is now rated 100 having started the year on 79. Bamako Beach won the listed sprint in a race that became a stern test of stamina, the winner having a finishing speed percentage of 93% with everything else lower.

Having run in the Irish 2000 Guineas earlier in the year, that sort of race suited and while he was inclined to hang left late on, connections will have been delighted to see their recently gelded runner race in a much more straightforward line than last time at Longchamp where he more or less ran off the track.

Not going quietly

The opening juvenile maiden over a mile was won by Admired Beauty in a time that compared well with the older horse maiden over the same trip that was next on the card. Jim Bolger may be winding down but he is not going quietly into the night with his juvenile runners at least who have done well in 2026.

He has had five individual two-year-old runners this year, and three of them have won, the pick being Sea Of Rain who landed the Group 3 Newtownanner Stud Irish EBF Stakes at the Curragh in August. The two maidens have reached at least the 80 level, Ita Florence looking well up to winning races judged on her runner-up effort on Sunday as she still seemed in need of the experience.

THE meeting at Navan the Wednesday before last was one of those cards where runners were coming well off the inside rail and the high numbers were favoured on the sprint track, several horses appearing to be going nicely towards the middle of the track before hitting a wall late.

Miss Mona Keeba, making her debut, was one of those in the opener. Drawn in stall 8, she chased home one from box 17 while the third and fourth were drawn 15 and 14.

She travelled as well as any before getting caught on the line, doing well to finish as well as she did given her track position, inexperience and the fast furlong she put in just after halfway.

My Cubby Bear did best of those drawn low in the sprint maiden for older horses. Having travelled, she just didn’t see it out in the wrong part of the track but has form at Dundalk so the all-weather is an option.

Specialist

Navan specialist Step Back In Time has not won in 2026, but her mark is dropping and she had a tough task trying to make all from stall one up the far rail while Verified (stall four) made late headway on the unfavoured part of the track.

Pink Oxalis took part in a race on the round track, the mile handicap for fillies, but made her move off the favoured near rail, and did not run as badly as it seem to finish fifth.

She is another that is without a win this year, but this was not the first time things have not set up well for her. That comes with the territory given her hold-up style, but her mark is starting to look lenient.