The County Kildare track of Naas hosts the 2025 edition of the Lawlor’s Of Naas Novice Hurdle on Sunday afternoon. First run in 1983, this 2m4f event is the only Grade 1 contest to take place at the course and always attracts a field of promising up-and-coming hurdlers.
Since earning Grade 1 status in 2015, the €100,000 event has fallen to Punchestown Gold Cup and Irish Gold Cup champ Bellshill, nine-time Grade 1 winner Envoi Allen, and Bob Ollinger, who went on to score twice at the Cheltenham Festival.
A valuable prize in its own right, the race is also a useful guide ahead of the top-level events later in the season. We suspect that may be the case in 2025, with the eight-runner field containing a host of intriguing runners from the leading Irish yards.
Mullins Bids for Tenth Success
As a Grade 1 Irish contest, it will be no surprise to learn that Willie Mullins tops the all-time trainer’s table. First successful with Homer Wells in 2005 and most recently with Readin Tommy Wrong in 2024, Mullins will move into double figures should he land the 2025 edition.
Responsible for half of the eight-runner field, Mullins boasts strength in numbers. Of that quartet, the Simon Munir & Isaac Souede-owned Jasmin De Vaux stands out as the most likely to prevail. Joining the yard in November 2023, this Tirwanako gelding opened his account with a 15l rout at this track before powering home to claim the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival.
He couldn’t follow up in the Grade 1 at Punchestown but had a legitimate excuse on the day. Despite that loss, he headed into his debut hurdle campaign with his tall reputation intact.
Sent off at odds of just 1/3 for his hurdles debut at Navan, he didn’t always hurdle fluently but was ultimately much too good for his 24 rivals. He is in the right place to brush up in the jumping department, and already a Grade 1 winner, he may be the one to beat.
If Jasmin De Vaux fluffs his lines, Mullins has a solid second, third and fourth string in the shape of last-time-out winners Spasiba and Supersundae, plus Plontier, who scored ten times on the flat and finished an encouraging fourth in Grade 2 company last time.
Clay to Show the Way for Elliott
Mullins’s biggest rival, Gordon Elliott, sits second in the trainer’s table with four wins since 2017. The master of Cullentra House relies on two Bective Stud-owned runners in 2025, headed by the four-timer seeking The Yellow Clay. A perfect two from two in Bumpers in 2023, the son of star flat stayer Yeats was kept to National Hunt flat events in his second season. He didn’t manage to get his head in front but rounded his campaign off with a solid second at Punchestown.
Fast forward to 2024/25, and the six-year-old made an immediate impression over hurdles, following up a 9l debut success with a 10l romp in a Grade 3 at Navan. He wasn’t quite as impressive when getting up late to claim the Grade 2 Navan Novice Hurdle last time, but unlike Jasmin De Vaux, he is proven at this trip over hurdles.
Wingmen wasn’t far behind The Yellow Clay in the Elliott pecking order following two wins from three starts in 2023/24. That remained the case following a strong front-running triumph at Navan on his first outing over hurdles. However, he was blown away by Dan Skelton’s Country Mile at Cheltenham last time out. With that horse subsequently finishing last of the five finishers in the Formby Novices’ Hurdle, he heads to Naas with questions to answer.
Don’t Dismiss Walsh and De Bromhead Challenge
As solid as the Mullins and Elliott challenge appears on paper, Henry De Bromhead and Ted Walsh look to have a reasonable chance of upsetting the superpowers.
Butch Cassidy joined De Bromhead from the Philip Fenton operation on 19th November 2024 and scored at Punchestown just four days later. This represents a significant step up from that Maiden Hurdle affair, but this Walk In The Park gelding brings stacks of potential.
BUTCH CASSIDY (Walk In The Park) and Darragh O’Keeffe win the “Sebden Steel Maiden Hurdle” at @punchestownrace for trainer @HenrydeBromhead and owner Mrs John Magnier pic.twitter.com/kl3WhhWsxp
— Emma O’Brien (@EmmaOBrien2204) November 23, 2024
Also by Walk In The Park, the Walsh-trained Shuffle The Deck finished behind Butch Cassidy in that Punchestown event but took a significant step forward when scoring by 3¼l over this course and distance in December. Any further improvement from the JP McManus runner may bring him into contention.
