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Action Packed Day for the Debut of The Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes

It was an exciting days racing at Naas on Sunday with the inaugural running of the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes, alongside the consolation race that was put in place due to a significant demand of 563 initial entries. We are delighted with the response to the race from owners and trainers both here in Ireland and abroad who made a massive effort to support the initiative in its first year. 


Chief Little Hawk got the better of Monaasib in a thrilling finish to the inaugural Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes at Naas.


The feature Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes saw an action packed six furlongs with the twenty runners breaking well into a compact group. The final furlong was a battle of the colts between the Aidan O’Brien trained Chief Little Hawk and Monaasib, trained by Kevin Prendergast. A gutsy performance from the Group and Listed placed performer Chief Little Hawk saw Monaasib headed just on the line to finish 2nd. Dandy Man filly Mooniesta also put in a very strong performance finishing 3rd for young up and coming Curragh trainer Jack Davison.


The John Joseph Murphy trained filly Sweet Gardenia, put in a superb performance to win the Silver Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes consolation race by 2 ¾ lengths for jockey Seamie Heffernan, who won the feature Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes and the Stanerra Stakes making it a treble on the day for the winning jockey.


Seamie Heffernan - Chief Little Hawk:

"He was one of our Ascot horses & was impressive at Navan. At Curragh he ran out past line so I was fancying him. Ballyhane Stud deserve huge amount of praise not only for putting on this big race but also €80k consolation."

We are delighted to have played a part in a new offering for juveniles with the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes being the richest two year old race to be run in Ireland this year. We would like to thank all owners and trainers who supported the initiative from the offset, with a massive backing from Irish trainers and eight UK based runners who travelled over to run between both races.

We would also like to wish a big congratulations to the winner of the Lockdown Hero competition Bernard Murphy, who is working as a Volunteer Coordinator at Tallaght Stadium Covid-19 testing centre, winning a four night stay at The Heritage Hotel, the use of a Colm Quinn BMW for a week and €2,000 in spending money.



Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes finish


Heffernan the big chief with Naas treble


@BallyhaneStud @IrishEBF_

@NaasRacecourse @Ballydoyle

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