IF Naas’s two-year taking on of four Curragh fixtures, which saw the track acquire two Group 2 races and seven Group 3s, was an audition of sorts, the Tipper road venue can be proud of its efforts. There may have been a small concern among the powers that be that taking well established and well recognised races away from the Curragh’s highly respected track proper, could see a fall in standard.

That hasn’t been the case and although it is a very small sample size, it’s worth pointing out that both Group 2 races that moved to Naas, the Mooresbridge Stakes and the Beresford Stakes, actually rated as better races than the running average from the previous three years they were run at the Curragh.

The the two panels, adjacent and below, show how the Group 2 and Group 3 races have rated at Naas. Group races are reviewed annually by the European Pattern Committee.

To establish the performance of a group race and determine its grading, the rating of the first four home is averaged out. Then that rating is averaged alongside the average taken from the first four home in the previous two renewals. The breakdown for three-year-old plus races is as follows: Group 1 – minimum average rating of 115, Group 2 – 110, Group 3 – 105. For two-year-old races, you just subtract 5lbs from each grade.

The Group 2 and 3 races in question have only been run twice at Naas, but they seem to have performed up to scratch, with miniscule rises and falls compared to the running average from the previous three renewals of each race at the Curragh, basically as you’d expect with any race’s standard year on year.

Good horses have shown up to Naas for these Curragh races. Horses like Minding, Capri, Cliffs Of Moher, Saxon Warrior and Air Pilot. In particular last year’s Renaissance Stakes was a notably good renewal, won by the Group 1 winner Quiet Reflection, and derived an average rating of 111.25, which is Group 2 level. The standard for the race fell this season but the introduction of the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes is bound to have had an effect.

As mentioned in the main piece on this feature, there is much more to the progress of Naas as a racecourse even before the last two years. A highlight of their programme is Royal Ascot Trials Day, which although still in its early stages as a fixture, has strengthened its position in the calendar.

The Group 3 Lacken Stakes, first run in 2014, is already a hugely significant race at the relatively early stage in the season. The six-furlong contest has never dipped below the 105 Group 3 standard parameter, with the average based on current ratings for this year’s renewal at 107.25, the highest average of the first five runnings. The Lacken also provides a line to the increasingly popular Commonwealth Cup, with Caravaggio doing the double last year.

The other three listed races on the May card also correlate nicely with Royal Ascot. The Rochestown Stakes, a race Naas traded with Cork in 2011, has produced winners such as Dawn Approach and Kool Kompany while the Fillies’ Sprint Stakes was contested by Skitter Scatter and So Perfect this year, and has been won by Alpha Centauri, Sandiva and Lillie Langtry.