Naas Racecourse

Naas is a left-handed, undulating oval of about a mile and a half, very much a galloping track. Its defining feature is a stiff, four-furlong home straight with an uphill finish, which makes it a genuine test and favours staying types and long-striding gallopers. Sprints (5f and 6f) are run on a straight chute. The ground can drain unevenly: the back section from the winning post toward the seven-furlong start tends to ride slower and gets very testing in heavy going. On the jumps course, runners meet eight fences a circuit including two open ditches; prominent racers are favoured and hold-up runners fare poorly.

Naas Racecourse sits in Co. Kildare, Ireland's thoroughbred-training heartland. The Naas Races Company was formed in 1922, led by local businessman Thomas Whelan, and the first meeting was held on 19 June 1924. From the outset the course developed as a left-handed, galloping track with a stiff uphill finish, a layout that has made it popular with trainers based across nearby Kildare. It has long operated as a dual-purpose venue, staging both Flat and National Hunt fixtures, and by 2010 was hosting around 15 meetings a year.

Naas is a solid dual-purpose track rather than a marquee festival venue, but it does carry graded races. The National Hunt highlight is the Grade 1 novice hurdle staged in January (long run as Lawlor's of Naas Novice Hurdle), supported by Grade 2 and Grade 3 jumps races such as the Newlands Chase and the Limestone Lad Hurdle. The Flat programme features Group 3 contests including the Blue Wind Stakes (run in spring/early summer) and, on Naas's Royal Ascot Trials day in May, the Group 3 Goffs Lacken Stakes and Group 3 Coolmore Irish EBF Fillies Sprint Stakes.

Naas Racecourse is on the edge of Naas, Co. Kildare, roughly 30 km (about 18 miles) southwest of Dublin and around 20 minutes' drive from the Curragh. By road it is easily reached via the M7 motorway from Dublin. By public transport, trains run from Dublin Heuston to nearby Sallins station, with onward bus connections, and bus services also link the town directly with Dublin. It is an unpretentious, accessible country track at the heart of Ireland's main horse-training region.