Officials at Leopardstown and Limerick are happy that “the weather gods” look to be playing ball in advance of their Christmas festival action, although for different reasons.
Along with Down Royal, the St Stephen’s Day action is Irish racing’s only triple-card date of the year, kicking off a busy holiday period with official attendance figures reaching close to 90,000 overall.
Leopardstown officials believe they are on track to at least equal last year’s tally of close of 63,000 across their four days of action. Limerick’s management prefers not to release official crowd figures, although it’s understood that up to 20,000 could attend Greenmount Park over their four days.
An absence of weather extremes that might disrupt the Christmas festival rather than ground conditions themselves might be the priority for most holiday racegoers. But they are of huge importance to racing professionals.
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The going on Leopardstown’s steeplechase track is yielding and an unsettled weather outlook for the Dublin area spells good news for track personnel who may not have to water it.
In contrast, Limerick’s management reports a largely dry week ahead, good news at a track where ground conditions can turn very testing. Limerick’s chief executive, Michael Lynch, reported on Sunday that the going there is “between soft and heavy.”
It can be dangerous at this time of year to take anything for granted, though. Leopardstown’s St Stephen’s Day action was disrupted in 2024 by unforecast fog that resulted in a 45-minute delay in the middle of the card.
“We obviously had to go through it last year. It was very much a freak weather incident. It’s not in the forecast at all. We couldn’t be in better shape from a weather and ground perspective,” said Horse Racing Ireland’s chief executive of Racecourses, Paul Dermody, on Sunday.
“The weather gods have been kind so far. There’s an unsettled forecast for the next few days. There is more rain in it. We are still yielding on the chase course and soft on the hurdles. We will keep monitoring it but there’s no concerns [about watering] at the moment,” he added.
Clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer will inspect Leopardstown on Tuesday morning in advance of final declarations for the first two days of Christmas festival action.
Leopardstown’s top-flight feature on Day One will be the €100,000 Racing Post Novice Chase, a race reinstated after being dropped last year due to competition fears in the novice division. However, it was restored during the summer.
“They are four great days with four slightly different demographics and each of them is critically important from a racing perspective. It is really important for Leopardstown to have that Grade One back in. Now there’s a great spread across the four days,” said Dermody.
Ten entries remain in the first Irish Grade One of the holiday period in advance of final declarations, and Gordon Elliott’s impressive Drinmoe winner Romeo Coolio is odds-on to make light of a drop back in trip to two miles.
Limerick’s Grade One feature will be next Sunday’s Guinness Faugheen Novice Chase. It’s likely to have a clash between the exciting Final Demand and Oscars Brother, recently purchased by JP McManus.
“We’re very happy where we are ground-wise. At this time of the year, it’s what’s expected. There was less rainfall than expected over the weekend and it’s expected to be pretty dry now for the next eight days,” Limerick boss Michael Lynch said.
Kempton’s Ladbrokes King George VI Chase is the St Stephen’s Day British highlight and a new jockey arrangement will be Harry Cobden teaming up with last year’s runner-up Il Est Francais. James Reveley had ridden the horse to all but one of his 10 previous wins.
The ex-French-based star was moved to English trainer Tom George’s yard for this season, but failed to fire on his return to action at Ascot last month.
“Since the horse has been in England, Harry has put a lot of work into him. He’s been in riding him quite a bit and knows him from schooling him. It is nothing to do with James at all, the horse is based in England now and we’ll see how we go,” said George.
“We’ve changed a few things with him and have done a lot of schooling with him, as he was just a bit lacklustre at Ascot.
“He’s been very, very sharp in his schooling. Actually Noel [George, former trainer] rode him this morning and said, ‘you can’t do more than you have’. He was very happy with how he felt – he said he feels absolutely brilliant – so we just have to hope everything comes right on a track we know he likes.
“Kempton has lit him up and he is very fresh and sharp now. We just hope we see him back to where he was last year and the year before, that’s all we can say,” he added.
