2025 Fairyhouse Winter Festival Sunday

Golden Ace won the Fighting Fifth for us at Newcastle on Saturday. Yes, two of her main rivals fell but she was bang there with The New Lion when he came a cropper so she was a worthy winner. Dave Stevos’ 2025 Fairyhouse Winter Festival preview is below.

1.05 – Porterstown Handicap Chase (Listed)

A race that holds happy memories for us thanks to Street Value in 2023. This year I am going to rely on the bottom weight Clonmeen, a horse that came to my attention when doing the spotlights for his race at Down Royal at the start of this month.

Trained in Carlow by William Murphy, this 10yo is a two time point to point winner who has won two of his twenty-one starts over fences. His last victory came at Punchestown in December 2023 off a mark of 114 over 3m on heavy ground. Two months later he ran third in the valuable Grand National trial back there over 3m3f off 123, again on heavy ground.

Non-Event

Since then, he has basically been going through the motions. Last season was a non-event but on his return to action this term, he shaped like he was on his way back to form with an eye-catching fourth at this venue (24.5f, yielding), staying on very nicely from the back to finish just 3.5l behind the winner.

I fancied him to run a big race at Down Royal on the back of that but the rain that was forecast never came and in hindsight, he was probably just out for a spin to get him ready for a crack at this prize. He’s best going right-handed, he likes cut in the ground and his course form figures read 2264 (the sixth came when he was outclassed in a Grade 3).

The son of Stowaway is 6lb wrong here but that is mostly negated by Niall Moore’s 5lb claim and the addition of cheekpieces will hopefully be used to explain the improvement in form to the stewards! At odds of 40/1, Clonmeen is the e/w selection.

2025 Fairyhouse Winter Festival Tip: Clonmeen e/w @ 40/1 (4 places) NB

1.35 – Royal Bond Novice Hurdle (Grade 2)

As soon as Blake crossed the finishing line at Down Royal a couple of weeks ago I said to a couple of my mates in a WhatsApp group, ‘Meade has a good one’. I guess today will tell whether I’m right.

By Zoffany, this 4yo was formerly trained by Philip Chapple Hyam in England. Campaigned solely on the flat, he achieved a rating of 88 for that stable, winning twice on soft ground at Sandown in the summer of 2024.  He was subsequently purchased at the H-I-T sales in October for a cool 125k guineas and he made his debut for Noel Meade in a 4yo maiden hurdle at Cork in March.

Satisfactory Debut

He found just one too good that day and it was a more than satisfactory hurdling debut, especially when you consider the ground was good. Meade gave Blake a break after that run and he reappeared with a fine run on the Flat at Leopardstown (1m4f, heavy) in October when he was hampered late and awarded the race by the stewards.

Less than two weeks later Blake pitched up at Down Royal for a 2m1f maiden hurdle on yielding and he absolutely bolted up. I loved how he travelled, I loved how he jumped and I really loved how he attacked the final hurdle after Meyler asked him to go and win his race.

A Dream To Share was over 9l behind in fourth so that adds some substance to the form and I think he’s well worth a go at this level. At odds of 12/1, Blake is the e/w selection.

2025 Fairyhouse Winter Festival Tip: Blake e/w @ 12/1 NAP

2.05 – Drinmore Novice Chase (Grade 1)

Romeo Coolio is a warm order for this 2m4f Grade 1 novice chase. Already a Grade 1 winner over hurdles, Gordon Elliott’s son of Kayf Tara ran out an impressive winner of his chasing debut at Down Royal, beating Koktail Divin by 14l. However, he won his prep for the Royal Bond last year in similar fashion before being turned over at short odds and that has to be a slight worry for favourite backers.

Gold Dancer has an experience edge over fences. Willie Mullins’ charge has won three from three, including Grade 3 contests at Galway and Tipperary the last twice. Now, it must be said that there was good in the ground description for all three of those wins and it remains to be seen whether he is as effective on this easier ground.

The horse I would love to see win this is Ol Man Dingle. He is flying the flag for smaller operations and Eoin Griffin’s stable star has won both his chase starts in fine style, including a Cork Grade 3 novice last time out. Odds of 6/1 are a bit too skinny for the blog but he’s a nice horse and hopefully, he can pull off the upset.

2025 Fairyhouse Winter Festival Tip: No Bet

2.36 – Hatton’s Grace Hurdle (Grade 1)

I nominated Glen Kiln as one of my NH horses to follow this season. To be honest, I was very surprised to see him step up in class over 2m at Punchestown because that trip is plenty sharp for him. However, he ran a really nice race to finish second behind Lossiemouth and this trip is going to be much more to his liking.

With a mark of 145, he is up against it on paper. We have Ballyburn (rated 160) and Teahupoo (163) in opposition but unlike Glen Kiln, they haven’t got a recent run under their belts and the same sentiment applies to Mystical Power.

Glen Kiln hosed up in a handicap over 2m6f on his last visit to this venue and while yes, these are much deeper waters, I am hoping Brian Hayes goes from the front and tries to maximise Glen Kiln’s fitness edge. The bookies have completely dismissed his chances, and they might be right, but I think Harry Kelly’s charge could have more improvement in him and at the prices, I am backing him e/w for small stakes.

2025 Fairyhouse Winter Festival Tip: Glen Kiln e/w @ 50/1

3.11 – Bar 1 Handicap Hurdle (Listed)

As long time readers know, this blog is focused on finding each way value at double figure odds. However, I am going to make a rare exception for an old friend of the blog in this Listed handicap hurdle.

We landed a lovely touch with Ataboycharlie when he won on his handicap debut at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting a couple of years ago. Trained by the King of Fairyhouse Eddie Cawley, that remains his sole success from eight starts over timber but he shaped like he was coming back to top form when a close third over 2m6f at Galway on his seasonal reappearance in October.

Can Win Off This Mark

He was running off 126 that day and is 1lb higher here but I am certain he has a race in him off this sort of mark. That was his first run over timber since he got to within 0.5l of Eagle Fang over this trip at Punchestown in May 2024. He was conceding 11lb to that rival, and he’s now rated 141 over hurdles.

My only concern is that Ataboycharlie’s three previous runs at this venue were poor, but one was in a maiden when he wasn’t trying, one was in a Grade 2 novice and one was in a beginners’ chase. This will be his first run in a handicap here and at odds of 6/1, I’ll be backing him on the nose.

2025 Fairyhouse Winter Festival Tip: Ataboycharlie win @ 6/1

-DaveStevos