THE Group 3 Alleged Stakes at Naas last weekend was amazing, but not surprising. In its long history since staging the first meeting there in 1924, few races ever run at the track will have matched the quality of that field of eight runners. Three Group 1 winners, horses who had amassed somewhere in the region of £3.5 million in their careers to date, all stakes winners who had garnered 17 blacktype races in total, faced the starter.

The race said a lot about the standard of our Irish racing product, the horses trained in this country and the quality of the racecourse where it was staged. With development work being carried out at the Curragh in recent years, Naas was fully tested, and it passed all these examinations with flying colours. While the course’s manager Tom Ryan is heading abroad soon, the course will surely attract quality interest in taking over the reins at a very ambitious venue.