Racecourse Guide

Fairyhouse
National Hunt

Ratoath, County Meath · roughly 15 miles northwest of Dublin

⬤ National Hunt
Turf
Right-Handed
Galloping

Shape

Round 1m6½f

Track Type

Galloping fair

Fences

11 per circuit

Hurdles

8 7 on the inner track

Home Straight

~2½–3f slightly uphill

Run-in

~1f from the last

Direction

Right-handed

Course Highlight

Irish Grand National

Course Overview

Track Breakdown

Fairyhouse is Easter Monday. The Irish Grand National has been run here every one since 1870 — bar 1919, 1941 and the Covid year of 2020 — and it remains the richest chase in Ireland: a €500,000, 3m5f handicap over 24 fences with the field capped at 30, off at 5pm as the climax of the three-day Easter Festival. The course itself is older still, born when the Ward Union Hunt moved its point-to-points here in 1848; Horse Racing Ireland has owned it since taking over the venue in 2007.

The track is a right-handed circuit of a mile and six and a half furlongs — big, open and galloping, with a steady climb on the side away from the stands, a descent down the back, and a home straight of around two and a half to three furlongs that rises gently to the line. Eleven fences to a circuit, eight hurdles (seven when the inner track is used), and the fences carry a genuine reputation: stiff, old-school, and unforgiving of a chancy jumper.

How it rides is best heard from the men who rode it — and then checked against the numbers, because the two tell usefully different stories.

A lovely big galloping track. There are rarely any hard-luck stories at Fairyhouse, you can come from any position and it’s an easy enough track to ride. The fences there are some of the stiffest around and wouldn’t be very forgiving to a chancy novice.
Charlie Swan, former champion Irish jump jockey — At The Races

Swan’s “come from any position” is true — and incomplete. Geegeez’s ten-year figures find no blanket bias, but real profit pockets at the front end: front-runners in two-mile non-handicap hurdles returned +55.17 to a level stake, and in handicap chases of eight or more runners +48.25. A fair track and a paying lean can coexist; Fairyhouse is the proof. The straight is long enough to rescue a patient ride, but the horse controlling the race has been the value all decade.

The National itself is a race apart. Its roll of honour is the history of Irish chasing — Arkle under 12 stone in 1964, Flyingbolt two years later, Brown Lad three times in the seventies, Desert Orchid under top weight in 1990 — and its modern chapters keep two truths in tension. It launches Aintree horses: Bobbyjo (1998) and I Am Maximus (2023) both won the English National within a year. And it humbles markets: Freewheelin Dylan won at 150/1 in 2021, the longest-priced winner the race has known.

Ground at the big meetings runs soft. The most recent National was run on soft, the last Winter Festival on soft and yielding-to-soft — standard for Irish jumps racing’s calendar slots, and worth building into every stamina read. Fairyhouse also carries a warning for the unwary researcher: stale facts stick to this race. The National has been BoyleSports-sponsored since 2014, whatever older pages say, and even specialist sites have mis-dated recent winners.

The Track

Circuit 1m6½f right-handed — big, galloping and fair, with a climb on the far side and a descent down the back
Obstacles 11 fences and 8 hurdles per circuit (7 flights on the inner track) — the fences among the stiffest in Ireland
Finish Home straight of roughly 2½–3f, slightly uphill; about a furlong from the last to the line
Run style No blanket bias, but front-runners show ten-year profit in 2m non-handicap hurdles (+55.17) and big-field handicap chases (+48.25)

The Irish Grand National

What €500,000 handicap chase, 3m5f (3m4f before 1991), 24 fences, 30-runner cap — Ireland’s richest chase
When Easter Monday, 5pm, every year since 1870; not run only in 1919, 1941 and 2020
Records Tom Dreaper trained 10 winners; Pat Taaffe rode 6; Brown Lad the only triple winner
Landmarks Ann Ferris the first winning female jockey (1984); Freewheelin Dylan the 150/1 record-priced winner (2021)

The Winter Festival

When Two days, late November — Ireland’s biggest winter racing weekend by the course’s own billing
Grade 1s Drinmore Novice Chase (2m4f, 16 fences) and Hatton’s Grace Hurdle (2m4f) on the same afternoon
Also Royal Bond Novice Hurdle — Grade 1 from 1994 until its 2023 downgrade to Grade 2
Names Hatton’s Grace honours Vincent O’Brien’s triple Champion Hurdler; Teahupoo won it three times, latest 2025

Track & History

Origins Ward Union Hunt point-to-points from 1848 — a full NH course within a decade
First National 1870 — won by Sir Robert Peel for 167 sovereigns from a field of 12
Ownership HRI-owned since 2007, alongside Leopardstown, Navan and Tipperary
Upgraded Track works around 2018: drainage installed and upgraded, inner-track bend widened, new canter-down gallop

Notable Races

The Racing Calendar

Premier Handicap · Easter Monday

BoyleSports Irish Grand National

Ireland’s richest chase: €500,000, 3m5f, 24 fences, capped at 30 runners. Arkle, Flyingbolt, Desert Orchid and Bobbyjo are on the roll; I Am Maximus (2023) went on to Aintree glory the following spring. Favourites have won just 3 of the last 22.

Grade 1 · Easter Sunday

WillowWarm Gold Cup

The Easter Festival’s Grade 1 chase over 2m4f, carrying its current sponsor since 2023. The day-two centrepiece before the National — a spring target for Ireland’s top intermediate-trip chasers.

Listed Handicap · Easter Saturday

RYBO Handicap Hurdle

The €100,000 feature of Ladies Day, opening the Easter Festival. A fiercely competitive big-field hurdle that regularly rewards the each-way book more than the market leaders.

Grade 1 · Winter Festival

Drinmore Novice Chase

2m4f and sixteen of Fairyhouse’s stiff fences — the race that sorts Ireland’s novice chasers each November. In its present form since 1994. Slick jumping is non-negotiable here.

Grade 1 · Winter Festival

Hatton’s Grace Hurdle

2m4f, named for Vincent O’Brien’s three-time Champion Hurdle winner. Teahupoo became a rare three-time winner with his 2025 renewal on testing ground — the staying-hurdle division’s winter benchmark.

Grade 2 · Winter Festival

Royal Bond Novice Hurdle

The two-mile novice hurdle that held Grade 1 status from 1994 until 2023. Still a key early-season marker for the top novice hurdlers, run on the same afternoon as the Drinmore and Hatton’s Grace.

Pace Bias

The Number That Matters

Fairyhouse’s ten-year numbers (Geegeez’s Irish course study) draw a precise picture: no general pace advantage across all races — the “fair track” reputation is earned — but two specific books where the front end has paid consistently. Front-runners in two-mile non-handicap hurdles returned +55.17 to a £1 level stake across the decade, and front-runners in handicap chases of eight or more runners returned +48.25. These are profit figures at quoted odds rather than raw win rates, which is exactly why they matter: the market has persistently under-priced the controlling ride here.

Run Style — ten-year level-stakes reads (Geegeez Irish course study)

Front-runners — 2m non-hcp hurdles

▲ +55.17 level stakes

Front-runners — 8+ runner hcp chases

▲ +48.25 level stakes

All other races

─ Fair — no blanket edge

Held up

▼ Playable, but rarely the value

Square the numbers with Charlie Swan’s “you can come from any position” and you get the working rule: the straight is long enough that hold-up horses genuinely do win here — hard-luck stories are rare — but over a decade the price about the front-runner has been wrong in those two specific race types. In the National itself, a 30-runner, 24-fence handicap, position matters less than survival and stamina: the trends point to proven three-mile winners aged nine or under, carrying less than eleven stone.

Statistics · Since 2010

Top Trainers & Jockeys

Trainer	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 Mullins, W P	1384	329	23.77%	680	49.13%	0.94	-281.47
2 Elliott, Gordon	1666	240	14.41%	578	34.69%	0.84	-519.13
3 Meade, Noel	633	68	10.74%	184	29.07%	0.79	-228.52
4 Bromhead, Henry De	561	58	10.34%	167	29.77%	0.72	-187.08
5 Cromwell, Gavin Patrick	533	42	7.88%	131	24.58%	0.73	-315.27
6 Martin, A J	383	38	9.92%	109	28.46%	0.82	-168.51
7 O’Brien, Joseph Patrick	270	37	13.70%	94	34.81%	0.98	-38.55
8 Harrington, Mrs John	400	34	8.50%	122	30.50%	0.68	-176.62
9 Hughes, D T	226	32	14.16%	75	33.19%	1.06	-28.15
10 Nolan, Paul	342	27	7.89%	93	27.19%	0.71	-87.36
11 McLoughlin, D A	313	23	7.35%	64	20.45%	1.01	+98.03
12 Cawley, Edward	218	19	8.72%	54	24.77%	1.27	-28.92
13 Dempsey, J P	165	18	10.91%	45	27.27%	1.06	+23.38
14 Gibney, Thomas	221	17	7.69%	59	26.70%	0.96	-52.45
15 Mullins, Thomas	211	17	8.06%	50	23.70%	0.93	-46.37
16 Fahy, P A	183	16	8.74%	50	27.32%	1.17	-56.25
17 Thornton, Karl	136	16	11.76%	36	26.47%	1.39	+0.18
18 Hanlon, John Joseph	221	15	6.79%	40	18.10%	1.00	-45.90
19 Murphy, C A	142	15	10.56%	37	26.06%	1.01	-44.82
20 Mullins, Ms Margaret	76	15	19.74%	28	36.84%	1.49	+36.11

Fairyhouse NH, since 2010. W P Mullins leads the page on volume (329 wins from 1384, 23.8% SR, A/E 0.94). The real value signals are Ms Margaret Mullins (A/E 1.49, +£36.11) and Karl Thornton (A/E 1.39, +£0.18). Oppose the over-bet Mrs John Harrington (A/E 0.68), Paul Nolan (A/E 0.71) and Henry De Bromhead (A/E 0.72).

Jockey	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 Townend, P	561	142	25.31%	284	50.62%	1.00	-51.69
2 Russell, D N	526	96	18.25%	246	46.77%	0.89	-102.44
3 Kennedy, J W	455	84	18.46%	184	40.44%	0.88	-94.52
4 Walsh, M P	611	83	13.58%	198	32.41%	0.82	-232.88
5 Walsh, R	268	78	29.10%	152	56.72%	0.96	-43.64
6 Mullins, D E	476	56	11.76%	138	28.99%	1.07	-79.73
7 Cooper, Bryan J	401	53	13.22%	142	35.41%	0.83	-143.55
8 Mullins, Mr P W	200	49	24.50%	113	56.50%	0.72	-84.59
9 Power, R M	362	38	10.50%	120	33.15%	0.83	-123.62
10 Flanagan, S W	498	34	6.83%	106	21.29%	0.69	-264.09
11 Donoghue, K M	425	34	8.00%	114	26.82%	0.71	-233.71
12 Blackmore, Rachael	356	33	9.27%	107	30.06%	0.64	-91.49
13 Carberry, P	231	32	13.85%	78	33.77%	0.88	-70.89
14 Geraghty, B J	174	31	17.82%	63	36.21%	0.98	-25.81
15 Enright, P T	461	30	6.51%	85	18.44%	0.87	-177.43
16 Lynch, A E	416	29	6.97%	93	22.36%	0.66	-92.97
17 Meyler, D	313	28	8.95%	86	27.48%	0.95	-139.33
18 O’Keeffe, Darragh	273	24	8.79%	69	25.27%	0.84	+19.25
19 Codd, Mr J J	91	23	25.27%	45	49.45%	1.03	+1.84
20 Slevin, J J	253	22	8.70%	69	27.27%	1.00	-40.34

Fairyhouse NH, since 2010. P Townend leads the riders on volume (142 wins from 561, 25.3% SR, A/E 1.00). Oppose the over-bet Rachael Blackmore (A/E 0.64), A E Lynch (A/E 0.66) and S W Flanagan (A/E 0.69).

Sire Statistics · Since 2010

Top Sires

Sire	Runs	Wins	Win%	Places	Place%	A/E	P/L
1 Flemensfirth (USA)	647	64	9.89%	218	33.69%	0.78	-239.42
2 Presenting	590	55	9.32%	142	24.07%	0.77	-245.17
3 Beneficial	572	54	9.44%	149	26.05%	0.85	-102.74
4 Milan	488	53	10.86%	136	27.87%	1.02	-155.09
5 Oscar (IRE)	527	49	9.30%	150	28.46%	0.88	-121.73
6 Westerner	402	48	11.94%	112	27.86%	1.09	-66.65
7 Walk In The Park (IRE)	336	40	11.90%	110	32.74%	0.80	-107.00
8 Shantou (USA)	301	38	12.62%	75	24.92%	1.05	-51.40
9 King’s Theatre (IRE)	313	32	10.22%	88	28.12%	0.79	-143.21
10 Yeats (IRE)	290	31	10.69%	69	23.79%	0.99	-11.04
11 Stowaway	285	29	10.18%	79	27.72%	0.79	-100.15
12 Fame And Glory	204	25	12.25%	63	30.88%	0.99	-3.02
13 Mahler	264	23	8.71%	62	23.48%	0.96	-48.75
14 Getaway (GER)	283	22	7.77%	68	24.03%	0.76	-137.84
15 Martaline	125	22	17.60%	47	37.60%	1.02	-2.02
16 Saddler Maker (IRE)	82	22	26.83%	38	46.34%	1.53	+85.55
17 Old Vic	199	20	10.05%	63	31.66%	0.97	-20.80
18 Doyen (IRE)	216	19	8.80%	50	23.15%	0.87	-95.64
19 No Risk At All (FR)	83	19	22.89%	40	48.19%	0.95	-24.25
20 Court Cave (IRE)	310	18	5.81%	48	15.48%	0.77	-169.32

Fairyhouse NH, since 2010. Flemensfirth (USA) tops the sire list (64 wins from 647, 9.9% SR, A/E 0.78), though the market prices that in. The real value signals are Saddler Maker (IRE) (A/E 1.53, +£85.55). Oppose the over-bet Getaway (GER) (A/E 0.76), Presenting (A/E 0.77) and Court Cave (IRE) (A/E 0.77).

Insider Knowledge

Betting Angles

📊

Play the National as the trends race it is

Across the last 22 runnings: 19 winners carried 10st 13lb or less, 20 had already won over three miles, 19 were aged nine or younger, 17 were Irish-trained — and the average winning SP was 25/1, with just three winning favourites. It is Ireland’s great each-way race. Filter hard on the profile, then take the prices.

📍

Back the front end in the two profit pockets

Two-mile non-handicap hurdles (+55.17 over ten years) and big-field handicap chases (+48.25) are where Fairyhouse front-runners have beaten the book. Outside those, the track is genuinely fair — so apply the angle where the data says it lives, not to every race on the card.

🧪

Respect the fences — novice jumping gets audited

Swan called Fairyhouse’s fences some of the stiffest around and “not very forgiving to a chancy novice.” The Drinmore in particular has exposed slick-looking novices whose jumping was never properly tested. Prioritise proven, fluent jumpers over raw engines in the chase races here.

🏆

Townend converts; Elliott saturates

On At The Races’ three-year course table, Paul Townend strikes at 36.5% here and Jack Kennedy at 26.1%, while Willie Mullins leads the trainers at 24%. Gordon Elliott sends more runners than anyone (204 in three years) at a 12.75% strike rate — volume, not conversion. Weight rider bookings accordingly.

🌱

The National resists the superpowers

Willie Mullins has won the race just twice, and Gordon Elliott once — while Dermot McLoughlin (2021–22) and Thomas Gibney (2012, 2024) have both won it twice from far smaller yards. Tom Dreaper’s record ten wins belong to another era. Stable size buys no edge in this handicap; do not price the big battalions as if it does.

🌧

Assume testing ground at the big meetings

The most recent National went on soft and the last Winter Festival on soft to yielding-to-soft. Fairyhouse’s marquee fixtures live in Ireland’s wet seasons — build the stamina read first, and treat “yielding” as a shade slower than a British good-to-soft, not its equal.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Trusting stale sources on this course. The National has been BoyleSports-sponsored since 2014 (not Jameson, as old pages still say), and even specialist sites have mis-dated I Am Maximus’s win — it was 2023 at Fairyhouse, 2024 at Aintree.
Backing National favourites as if the race were formful at the head of the market — three winning favourites in 22 runnings, average winning SP 25/1. The profile is predictable; the winner’s price is not.
Reading “fair track” as “no angles.” The ten-year front-runner profit in 2m non-handicap hurdles and big-field handicap chases is real — fairness and a paying lean coexist here.
Confusing Fairyhouse with Punchestown. Different counties, different festivals: the Irish Grand National is Easter Monday in Meath; Punchestown’s five-day finale is late April in Kildare.

Common Questions

Fairyhouse Racecourse FAQs

What is the Irish Grand National and when is it run?

Ireland’s richest chase — a €500,000 handicap over 3m5f and 24 fences, capped at 30 runners — run at Fairyhouse every Easter Monday since 1870, with only 1919, 1941 and 2020 missed. Arkle (1964), Flyingbolt (1966), Brown Lad (three times) and Desert Orchid (1990) all won it; Bobbyjo and I Am Maximus both followed their Fairyhouse wins with Aintree Grand National victory within a year. Tom Dreaper’s ten training wins and Pat Taaffe’s six in the saddle remain the records.

Is there a pace bias at Fairyhouse over jumps?

No blanket bias — the ten-year study calls it a very fair track — but two documented profit pockets: front-runners returned +55.17 to level stakes in two-mile non-handicap hurdles and +48.25 in handicap chases of eight or more runners. Those are price-driven edges: the market has under-rated the controlling ride in exactly those race types. Elsewhere, Charlie Swan’s read holds — you can genuinely come from any position, and hard-luck stories are rare.

What kind of track is Fairyhouse?

A big, galloping, right-handed circuit of a mile and six and a half furlongs, with a steady climb on the far side, a descent down the back straight and a slightly uphill home straight of around two and a half to three furlongs. Eleven fences to a circuit — among the stiffest in Ireland, unforgiving of a chancy jumper — and eight hurdles (seven on the inner track). Fair, open and honest: the class horse usually gets its chance.

Which trainers and jockeys do best at Fairyhouse?

Over the last three years Willie Mullins leads the trainers at a 24% strike rate, with Paul Townend an outstanding 36.5% and Jack Kennedy 26.1% in the saddle; Gordon Elliott has the most runners but converts at 12.75%. The Irish Grand National is the great leveller: Mullins has won it just twice and Elliott once, while Dermot McLoughlin and Thomas Gibney have both won it twice from much smaller yards.

What are the big meetings at Fairyhouse besides Easter?

The two-day Winter Festival in late November is the other peak — the Grade 1 Drinmore Novice Chase and Grade 1 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle run on the same afternoon, alongside the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle (Grade 1 from 1994 until its 2023 downgrade to Grade 2). Teahupoo’s third Hatton’s Grace in 2025 made him a rare triple winner. The Easter Festival itself runs three days: the RYBO Handicap Hurdle on Ladies Day, the Grade 1 WillowWarm Gold Cup on the Sunday, then the National.

Explore

Other Jumps Tracks

Leopardstown

Dublin’s winter Grade 1 powerhouse — two festivals.

Punchestown

The Irish season’s five-day finale in Kildare.

Naas

Stiff galloping left-hander — winter novice form.

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