Bellewstown Festival: Key Trainers to Watch

The Bellewstown Festival is a three-day meeting which takes place on the third, fourth and fifth of July. Days one and two offer interesting Flat fixtures, whilst Saturday’s final card takes place over the Jumps.

Here we pick out some of the trainers that are worth following across the three days and some of the names will be very familiar.

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Smaller yards to follow

There are a couple of smaller operators that could be worth keeping an eye on, as both had two winners from their three Flat runners at the track in 2024.

Matthew Smith has two entries on Friday; La La Lucrative in a mile handicap in race three and Buck Lake in the following 5f maiden. The former is more likely to come out on top, having won two starts ago, while the latter has plenty to find on the evidence of his performance on debut.

Michael Grassick has one potential runner on Friday but 53-rated mare Amanirenas has a bit to find in the opening race, a claimer over a mile. She does have five career wins to her name but a rating of 53 suggests there are more likely winners in the field.

The O’Brien brothers

Donnacha O’Brien is unbeaten at Bellewstown so far this season, with his only runner at the track getting the job done. His only potential runner is Camden Fort in a two-year-old maiden in Friday’s second race.

Camden Fort was beaten by four lengths when eighth on debut at Roscommon but he looked very green and clearly needed the experience badly. He would have learned plenty from the run and significant improvement seems likely with that in mind.

Joseph O’Brien was Bellewstown’s leading Flat trainer in 2024, with six winners from 14 runners. The useful Lark In The Mornin is better known for his hurdling exploits but he runs on the level in Thursday’s finale and the ratings suggest he should be winning.

Also represented in two maidens on Friday’s card, he’s surely going to be worth keeping an eye on, as one or two winners could be on the cards.

Aidan O’Brien

Coolmore’s in-house trainer is having an exceptional season with his two-year-olds so far so it’s ominous that he runs World Tour in a juvenile maiden on Friday. The once-raced colt bumped into an impressive winner over 7f at Down Royal on debut but he should take a step forward here.

Wootton Bassett filly Gifted makes her debut in a 1m4f maiden on Friday and her pedigree suggests we can expect big things.

Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott

It’s likely that both will be represented on Saturday’s card and the latter has been very busy over the summer. Elliott has been on a bit of a losing run of late but it’s always dangerous to rule him out as winners are rarely far away.

His course strike-rate is 31 per cent so far this season and that can’t be ignored. Mullins is mob-handed with entries in both maiden hurdles on Saturday’s card and you have to seriously respect whichever horses he decides to run.