The Lawlor's of Naas Novice Hurdle: Race Guide

The Lawlor's of Naas Novice Hurdle is a Grade 1 contest for novice hurdlers, and it is the only Grade 1 that Naas stages all year. It is run over about 2 miles 4 furlongs, a distance recorded as 4,023 metres, with 11 flights of hurdles to negotiate. The conditions are open to horses aged four and upwards, having historically been confined to five-year-olds and older. Prize money stands at 100,000 euro, with 60,000 euro going to the winner, which makes it both the richest jumps race on the Naas calendar and a serious target for any yard with a leading novice.

As a Grade 1 it is run at level weights, with the standard novice allowances applying. There is no handicapping to bunch the field together. Every runner carries the same burden bar age and sex allowances, so the race is a straight test of which horse is best on the day. That clean, weight-for-age format is part of what makes a win here so meaningful. A novice that beats its rivals on equal terms at this level has nothing to hide behind.

The distance and the test

Two and a half miles is a telling trip for a young hurdler in mid-winter. It is far enough to expose any horse that does not truly stay, and at Naas the demand is sharpened by the track. The home straight runs about four furlongs and climbs uphill to the line, so the closing stages are run into a stamina-sapping rise rather than on the flat. A sound judgement of pace is essential, and the course has a long record of rewarding horses that race handy or prominently. Out-and-out hold-up horses have a poor record over jumps here, where the uphill finish leaves little room to make up ground late.

The going is the other variable that shapes the race. Naas can ride genuinely testing through the winter, soft to heavy, and the section of track from the winning post back towards the seven-furlong start drains more slowly and rides softer than the rest of the circuit. The 2025 Lawlor's was run on heavy ground, and the 2026 Grade 1 over the same trip was run in 5 minutes 5.10 seconds on soft. Those are not conditions for a flashy speedster. They favour a strong, galloping stayer that can jump efficiently and keep finding under pressure, which is precisely the type the race tends to throw up.

The slot in the calendar

The Lawlor's is run in early January, at the head of the Irish jumps Pattern for the new year. It shares its card with the Grade 3 Limestone Lad Hurdle, another quality two-mile hurdle, so the day functions as Naas's flagship National Hunt fixture. The meeting also stages a Best Dressed competition, a nod to the fact that this is a day out as well as a serious piece of racing. Winter weather can intervene: the 2025 fixture was abandoned on 5 January for frost and rescheduled to 10 January, a reminder that an early-January Grade 1 in Ireland is always at the mercy of the cold.

The race that is now a Grade 1 began life as a far more modest affair, and its rise tracks the rise of Naas itself. It is registered as the Slaney Novice Hurdle, and in its early years it was run over 2 miles 3 furlongs before settling at its current trip of 2 miles 4 furlongs in 1995. For its first decades it sat well down the Pattern, a useful novice event rather than a championship pointer.

The first formal upgrade came in 1993, when the race was awarded Grade 3 status. That gave it a place on the graded ladder and marked it out as a contest worth winning, but it was still some way short of the top. The next step came in 2005, when it was raised to Grade 2. By then the quality of horse it was attracting had begun to outgrow its billing, with leading Irish yards using it as a winter target for their better novices.

The defining moment arrived in 2015. The race was promoted to Grade 1, and in doing so it became the first Grade 1 ever staged at Naas. For a course that had spent its history as a respected dual-code track and a noted Flat trial venue, but without a top-flight jumps prize of its own, this was a genuine landmark. The track that markets itself as the Nursery of Champions finally had a championship-level race to call its own, and the timing in early January handed it a unique role as the first Grade 1 of the Irish jumps year.

The sponsors

For most of its Grade 1 era the race carried the name of a local backer. Lawlor's of Naas, the hotel in the town centre, was title sponsor from 2015 through to 2025, and the Lawlor's name became the one most racing people used. From the 2026 running the title sponsorship passed to Ballymore Properties, and the race was run that year as the Ballymore Novice Hurdle. The registered name, the Slaney, has stayed constant underneath the changing sponsors, which is why the same race can appear under several titles depending on the year and the source.

A race that grew with its course

The elevation to Grade 1 in 2015 did not happen in isolation. It came during a long period of investment at Naas, from the grandstand built in 1997 through to the more than 3.2 million euro the course says it has spent on redevelopment from 2018 onwards, including the cylindrical feature building known as The Circle. A track investing heavily in its facilities and pushing for a higher profile needed a flagship race to match, and the Lawlor's became exactly that. Within a few seasons of its promotion it had drawn in the best novices in the country and produced winners who went on to the sport's biggest stages, which is the surest sign that the upgrade was deserved.

The roll of honour is what gives the Lawlor's its standing. In the Grade 1 era especially, the race has been won by some of the best young hurdlers in training, and several of them went on to far bigger things. The list reads as a who's who of recent Irish novice hurdling.

The Grade 1 roll of honour

The table below sets out the winners through the modern renewals, with their trainers, jockeys and starting prices where confirmed.

Year	Winner	Trainer	Jockey	SP
2026	I'll Sort That	Declan Queally	Mr D.L. Queally	5/1
2025	The Yellow Clay	Gordon Elliott	Sam Ewing	11/4
2024	Readin Tommy Wrong	Willie Mullins	Daryl Jacob	16/1
2023	Champ Kiely	Willie Mullins	Danny Mullins	10/3
2022	Ginto	Gordon Elliott	Jack Kennedy	5/4f
2021	Bob Olinger	Henry de Bromhead	Rachael Blackmore
2020	Envoi Allen	Gordon Elliott	Davy Russell	1/4f
2019	Battleoverdoyen	Gordon Elliott	Jack Kennedy	2/1f
2018	Next Destination	Willie Mullins	Paul Townend	8/15f
2017	Death Duty	Gordon Elliott	Jack Kennedy	5/6f
2016	Bellshill	Willie Mullins	Ruby Walsh	2/5f
2015	Mckinley	Willie Mullins	Paul Townend	33/1
2014	Briar Hill	Willie Mullins	Ruby Walsh	1/3f
2013	Rule The World	Mouse Morris	Davy Russell	7/1

The stars who went on to bigger things

Several Lawlor's winners are remembered for what they did after Naas. Envoi Allen, who won in 2020 at the cramped odds of 1/4 for Gordon Elliott and Davy Russell, went straight on to take the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival and later became a multiple Grade 1 winner over fences. Bob Olinger did exactly the same the following year, winning the 2021 Lawlor's for Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore before following up in the Ballymore at Cheltenham. Two horses, two seasons, the same Naas-to-Cheltenham double.

The most striking after-story of all belongs to Rule The World, who won the 2013 renewal for Mouse Morris and Davy Russell. He went on to win the 2016 Aintree Grand National, a reminder that this two-and-a-half-mile hurdle has launched horses who later proved themselves over the most testing staying trips in the sport. The race's reach stretches back further too: Golden Cygnet, an earlier winner from 1978, went on to take the Cheltenham Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

Others from the Grade 1 era were the leading novice prospects of their seasons. Death Duty, Battleoverdoyen, Champ Kiely and The Yellow Clay all won the race and carried serious reputations into the spring. The Yellow Clay won the 2025 running by eight lengths, the sort of wide-margin success that marks a horse out as something above the ordinary.

The shocks

For all that favourites have a strong record here, the Lawlor's has produced its share of upsets, and they are part of its character. The biggest came in the very first Grade 1 running in 2015, when Mckinley won at 33/1 for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend, the race's biggest shock at the moment it reached the top level. Readin Tommy Wrong sprang another surprise in 2024, winning at 16/1, again for Mullins, who that year saddled the first three home. Those results sit alongside a long run of short-priced winners, which is the balance you would expect from a true championship trial.

The record holders

Two names dominate the history. Willie Mullins is the most successful trainer in the race with at least nine wins, a list that runs from Homer Wells in 2005 through Mikael D'haguenet, Gagewell Flyer, Briar Hill, Mckinley, Bellshill, Next Destination and Champ Kiely to Readin Tommy Wrong in 2024. Since the 2015 elevation he and Gordon Elliott have shared the spoils almost evenly, the two giants of Irish jumps racing trading the race year on year. Among the jockeys, Ruby Walsh is the leading rider with four wins, on Homer Wells, Mikael D'haguenet, Briar Hill and Bellshill.

The reason the Lawlor's matters beyond Naas is its standing as a Cheltenham trial. Win it well, and a horse is suddenly being talked about for the Festival in March. The race has earned that billing the hard way, by producing winners who went on to deliver at Cheltenham rather than by reputation alone.

The Ballymore connection

The clearest line runs to the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle, the Festival's premier staying novice hurdle over the same kind of two-and-a-half-mile trip. Envoi Allen in 2020 and Bob Olinger in 2021 both won the Lawlor's and then completed the double in the Ballymore at Cheltenham. That is exactly the progression the race is built to identify. The distance matches, the emphasis on stamina matches, and the early-January date gives connections a clean run to the Festival without too much racing in between. When a horse wins the Lawlor's and then heads to the Ballymore, it is following a well-worn and successful path.

What the winning profile looks like

The form trends behind the race tell a consistent story about the type of horse that wins it, and they reinforce why it works as a trial. In the ten years before 2019, every single winner had won on its last completed start, nine of the ten had run within the previous month, and seven had already won over at least 2 miles 4 furlongs. In other words, the race rewards horses arriving in form, race-fit and already proven at the trip. Those are the same qualities that travel well to a championship in March. A novice that ticks all three boxes at Naas is a novice whose stamina, fitness and momentum have all been tested in public.

Favourites have a strong record, with nine winning favourites across the 20 renewals up to the most recent runnings, which is what you would expect of a race where the best horses turn up and run to form. The upsets, Mckinley at 33/1 and Readin Tommy Wrong at 16/1, are the exceptions that keep the contest honest rather than evidence that the form is unreliable.

A trial, not a guarantee

It is worth being clear about what a trial does and does not tell you. A strong Lawlor's win is genuine evidence that a horse is high class, stays well and handles a real test, and the after-stories of Envoi Allen, Bob Olinger and Rule The World show how far that evidence can carry. But a winter Grade 1 over soft ground at Naas is not the Festival itself, and plenty can change between January and March. Some winners go on to Cheltenham glory, others do not make the trip or meet better on the day. The race is a guide to the best of the season's novices, not a forecast of results to come.

That is also the right way to read it from a betting point of view. The Lawlor's is one of the most informative pieces of the novice hurdle jigsaw, and it shapes the ante-post markets for the spring. It is not a tip sheet. Short-priced winners here win their share, but as in all racing, backing the market leaders blindly loses money to the starting price over time, and no clever season-long strategy changes that underlying truth. The value in the race is the information it gives, not a system it hands you.

The Lawlor's day is an easy fixture to follow, whether you are heading to Kildare in person or watching from home on a cold January afternoon.

On course

Naas sits just off the M7 motorway on the eastern edge of the town, about 30km south-west of Dublin, with the racecourse roughly five minutes from exit 9 and clearly signposted. Free car parking is provided on every race day on a first-come, first-served basis. By rail, Iarnród Éireann trains run from Dublin Heuston to Sallins, the nearest station, and the racecourse runs a shuttle bus from Sallins to the course on weekend race days, before and after racing. There are also regular bus services to Naas town from Dublin city centre and Dublin Airport.

The racecourse opens an hour and a half before the first race, so arriving in good time is sensible for a busy Grade 1 day. Race cards are sold for a few euro on the gate. Naas is a compact, boutique course where spectators can see the whole circuit from the stands, which makes for a closer view of a staying hurdle than you get at the bigger tracks. The ground floor of the grandstand has a cafe, a Tote bar and betting facilities, while The Circle houses a public bar and the Goffs Owners and Trainers Lounge with wide views over the track. There is no formal dress code, though the day carries a Best Dressed competition, and the course simply recommends dressing for the winter weather. For accessibility, there are accessible bathrooms in every building and accessible parking spaces, and the course asks anyone needing accessible parking to phone ahead on 045 897391 so staff can help them park close to the entrance.

From home

In Ireland and the UK, racing from Naas is shown on Racing TV, the subscription channel that carries all 26 Irish racecourses under a media-rights deal running to the end of 2029. The Lawlor's, as the flagship jumps fixture, is part of that coverage, and dedicated single-meeting feeds are available through Racing TV Extra. Racing TV's home coverage sits behind a paywall, so watching live means either a subscription or an integrated bookmaker stream where available.

For those without Racing TV, the simplest route is to follow the race through live results and reports on the major services, including the Racing Post, Sky Sports Racing, At The Races, Sporting Life and Horse Racing Ireland's own goracing.ie. While Naas is a Racing TV course rather than a Sky Sports Racing one, results and analysis are widely available across all the usual outlets shortly after the race is run. Note too that early-January weather can move the fixture, as it did in 2025 when frost forced an abandonment and a rescheduling, so it is always worth checking the meeting is going ahead before you set out or settle in to watch.