Irish Performance of the Week - 23 December 2025
There was another full week of super action in Ireland to look over as we search for the top performance from each of the tracks across the country.
Julie quickest ahead of Christmas Oaks final
It's easy to forget just how lightly raced A Lucky Julie is given that she is an Oaks winner, an Irish Derby finalist, a Select Stakes runner-up and now the quickest of the qualifiers for the Bernard Barry Christmas Oaks final at Shelbourne. Owner/trainer Jerry Melia also guided Holycross Leah to a Derby final back in 2016, so he has a way with these outstanding bitches and although she is now a veteran, Julie is still at the top of her game.
The Eric Browne Memorial Kingdom Derby final saw Liam Dowling's Solo And Go scorch to a 28.24 win, going one place better than he had in the final of the Laurels. He had to be brave to clear Magical Keith at the opening bend and that could easily have softened him up for the late challenges of Crossfield Matt and his own litter brother Ballymac Tibet, but he had enough in the locker to score by half a length.
For the third week in a row at Curraheen Park the award has gone to Bartlemy Mainoo. Graham Holland's runner is full of confidence at present and shaved 11 spots off his impressive opening round effort to land his semi-final of the Elite Contracting Design Open 575. His 31.02 is the fourth quickest of the year.
Four career starts, four wins for Glengar Kane as he made the final of the Lord Kennels unraced stakes at Enniscorthy. His 28.51 is just four spots off the quickest time of the year and he will be a very warm order in the final to continue that unbeaten start and quite possibly set a new fastest of the year in the process for his trainer Pat Buckley.
The youngest on the list this week is June 24 whelp Hawkfield Garry who made a slick race debut at Dundalk. Only Lennies Tank and Broadstrand Syd have dipped under 20.85 this year, so his 21.20 on his first career outing is a sensational starting point. Potentially more interesting, however, is John McGee's Hawkfield Grant who gave Garry a six-length beating in a 525y trial at Shelbourne on November 8!
