# Munster National Day at Limerick: The Complete Guide

_Munster National Day at Limerick: the Grade 3 handicap chase over three miles that launched Tiger Roll, with its roll of honour, October card and viewing guide._

*Source: [https://stablebet.co.uk/irish-racecourses/limerick/munster-national-day-limerick/](https://stablebet.co.uk/irish-racecourses/limerick/munster-national-day-limerick/) · last updated 2026-07-13*

The Munster National is Limerick Racecourse's autumn showpiece, a three-mile handicap chase that opens the serious business of the Irish National Hunt season each October. Run at Greenmount Park, Patrickswell, it is one of the country's premier staying handicaps. For years the racecards styled it a Grade A handicap, the top Irish handicap band, and in its most recent runnings it has carried the Grade 3 label that now marks Ireland's and Britain's premier handicaps. The two descriptions point to the same tier of quality, and in 2025 the race was classified Grade 3.

The full title is the JT McNamara Munster National, adopted in 2016 in memory of the amateur rider John Thomas McNamara. Runners face 16 fences, two of them open ditches, jumped twice around Limerick's right-handed oval, with a total prize fund of €100,000. Fields tend to number between 12 and 16, and the race rewards horses with genuine stamina and a good jumping stride.

Its wider fame rests on one name above all. Tiger Roll won the 2016 Munster National at 20/1, and it proved the springboard for a chasing career that produced back-to-back Grand Nationals in 2018 and 2019. Limerick has traded on that association ever since, and the roll of honour is thick with the leading yards of Irish jumping, headed by Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins.

This guide covers the race in detail: its conditions, its history, its greatest winners and how it tends to bet. It also places the day within Limerick's racing calendar and explains how to watch or attend.

- [The Race](#the-race)
- [History](#history)
- [The Roll of Honour](#great-winners)
- [Betting on the Munster National](#betting-angles)
- [The Munster National in the Season](#classic-season-context)
- [Watching and Attending](#watching)
- [Frequently Asked Questions](#faq)

## The Race

The Munster National is a handicap chase run over three miles at Limerick Racecourse, open to horses aged four and older. Runners jump 16 fences, two of them open ditches, twice around Limerick's right-handed, undulating oval. The track asks a searching question over this trip: there is a stiff, stamina-sapping climb in the second half of the back straight before the field descends towards the home turn, so a horse needs both stamina and a reliable jumping stride to be involved at the finish.

Here is how the race sits at a glance.

| Detail | Fact |
| --- | --- |
| Race | JT McNamara Munster National Handicap Chase |
| Course | Limerick (Greenmount Park, Patrickswell) |
| Distance | 3 miles |
| Fences | 16 (two open ditches), jumped twice |
| Grade | Historically Grade A; styled Grade 3 in recent runnings |
| Age | Four years and older |
| Month | October |
| Prize fund | €100,000 |

The prize money is split down the field. On the 2024 breakdown the winner collected €60,000, with €20,000 for second, €10,000 for third and €5,000 for fourth, from the €100,000 added.

On grade, the picture has shifted in label rather than in substance. The racecards styled the race a Grade A handicap for years, the top band of Irish handicaps, and that designation appeared on the 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 runnings. From 2023 onwards the racecards have carried the Grade 3 label, reflecting the wider reclassification of premier handicaps across Ireland and Britain. A Grade A Irish handicap is the equivalent of a Grade 3 handicap chase, so the change describes the same competitive level under a newer name.

The race has been sponsored in the modern era by Ladbrokes and, more recently, by BoyleSports, which is contracted as title sponsor of the race and of the two-day October Festival until 2028. The name predates the current track, but the continuous modern record begins in 2001, the year Greenmount Park opened. It is the headline race of a two-day October meeting and one of the early highlights of the Irish jumps season.

## History

The Munster National name predates the racecourse that stages it today. The race was run at the old Greenpark course before Limerick racing moved out to Greenmount Park, Patrickswell, and its continuous modern record begins in 2001, the year the new track opened after Greenpark closed in 1999 following 130 years of use. Foxchapel King, trained by Mouse Morris, won that first running at Greenmount Park, and Morris took the race again in 2003 with Brownie Returns.

The most significant change to the race came in 2016, when it was renamed the JT McNamara Munster National. The dedication honours John Thomas McNamara, the amateur jockey from Croom in County Limerick who was paralysed in a fall at Cheltenham in 2013 and died in July 2016 at the age of 41. The renaming tied the county's biggest jumps race to one of its own, and the meeting carries a strong local charge as a result. Limerick's general manager at the time described the Munster National as one of the highlights of the National Hunt calendar, with its prize fund of €100,000.

The race also owes much of its wider profile to 2016 in a second way. That October a small, unconsidered six-year-old named Tiger Roll won it at 20/1 on his handicap debut, and what followed turned the day into part of racing folklore. The Limerick executive has since described the course as the scene where Tiger Roll's chasing career took off, the staying handicap that pointed him towards Aintree.

Sponsorship has moved with the times. Ladbrokes backed the race through the late 2010s, and BoyleSports took over more recently, committing to the race and the two-day October Festival until 2028. Prize money has settled at €100,000 in recent years, keeping the Munster National among the most valuable staying handicap chases in the Irish autumn.

There is more of the race's story that sits just out of reach. A reliable year-by-year list of the pre-2001 winners at the old Greenpark track could not be confirmed, and the winning margins for most runnings before 2016 are not published. What is documented is a modern history built around a strong local meeting, a poignant renaming and one of the most famous horses of the era.

## The Roll of Honour

The modern roll of honour, from the first running at Greenmount Park in 2001, reads as a who's who of Irish jump racing. Two names dominate. Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins have each won the race three times: Elliott with Tiger Roll (2016), Aforementioned (2020) and Gevrey (2023), and Mullins with Total Recall (2017), Cabaret Queen (2019) and Ontheropes (2021). The local Croom trainer Eric McNamara has landed the last two runnings with Real Steel (2024) and French Dynamite (2025). Among the riders, Paul Townend has two winners across the last twenty renewals, aboard Treacle (2009) and Cabaret Queen (2019). Mouse Morris took the first two of the modern runnings.

Here is the full modern roll of honour, with starting prices where confirmed.

| Year | Winner | Trainer | Jockey | SP |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2001 | Foxchapel King | Mouse Morris | D J Casey | 12/1 |
| 2002 | More Than A Stroll | Arthur Moore | C O'Dwyer | 6/1 |
| 2003 | Brownie Returns | Mouse Morris | G Cotter | 20/1 |
| 2004 | Colca Canyon | Mrs John Harrington | R M Power | 8/1 |
| 2005 | Star Clipper | Noel Meade | P Carberry | 16/1 |
| 2006 | Pearly Jack | D E Fitzgerald | N P Madden | 3/1 jt-fav |
| 2007 | Mossbank | Michael Hourigan | Andrew J McNamara | 8/1 |
| 2008 | Dear Villez | Paul Nicholls | Ruby Walsh | 7/4 fav |
| 2009 | Treacle | Tom Taaffe | Paul Townend | 7/1 |
| 2010 | Golden Kite | Adrian Maguire | S J Hassett | 20/1 |
| 2011 | Muirhead | Noel Meade | Paul Carberry | 10/1 |
| 2012 | Raz De Maree | Dessie Hughes | B J Cooper | 7/1 |
| 2013 | Double Seven | Martin Brassil | Mark Walsh | 8/1 |
| 2014 | Shanpallas | C Byrnes | Davy Russell | 7/1 |
| 2015 | Sadler's Risk | Henry de Bromhead | A E Lynch | 14/1 |
| 2016 | Tiger Roll | Gordon Elliott | Donagh Meyler | 20/1 |
| 2017 | Total Recall | W P Mullins | Ruby Walsh | 2/1 fav |
| 2018 | Spider Web | Thomas Mullins | L P Dempsey | 12/1 |
| 2019 | Cabaret Queen | W P Mullins | Paul Townend | 8/1 |
| 2020 | Aforementioned | Gordon Elliott | Gavin Brouder | 6/1 |
| 2021 | Ontheropes | W P Mullins | Sean O'Keeffe | 7/1 |
| 2022 | The Big Dog | Peter Fahey | Keith Donoghue | 16/1 |
| 2023 | Gevrey | Gordon Elliott | Ricky Doyle | 6/1 |
| 2024 | Real Steel | Eric McNamara | Danny Mullins | 8/1 |
| 2025 | French Dynamite | Eric McNamara | Patrick M O'Brien | 16/1 |

A few runnings stand out. The 2016 win of Tiger Roll is the one Limerick tells most often. A 20/1 shot on his handicap debut, he settled behind the leaders, moved up six out, led approaching the straight and drew clear to win by seven lengths from Stellar Notion, with Kylecrue third. Donagh Meyler took the ride after Lisa O'Neill switched to another Gigginstown runner. It was Tiger Roll's first big success over fences, and it set him on the path to back-to-back Grand Nationals.

A year later, in 2017, Ruby Walsh brought the 2/1 favourite Total Recall home for Willie Mullins. Total Recall went on to win the Ladbrokes Trophy at Newbury, becoming the first Irish-trained winner of that race in 37 years. The 2024 running carried a local resonance, with Danny Mullins making all on Real Steel for Eric McNamara, poignant given the race honours McNamara's late friend and namesake JT McNamara.

## Betting on the Munster National

A big-field staying handicap is one of the harder puzzles in the sport, and the Munster National is no exception. The points below are context on how the race has tended to fall, not tips, and none of them is a way to make the race pay.

The most reliable pattern is where the winners come from. Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins have three modern runnings each, and the local Croom yard of Eric McNamara supplied the last two winners. That is a race dominated by a handful of powerful stables rather than one that throws up shocks from nowhere.

Prices tell their own story. The winners have ranged widely, from short-priced favourites to double-figure outsiders, and there is no single band that the race settles into.

| Angle | What the modern record shows |
| --- | --- |
| Winning favourites | Few: Dear Villez (7/4, 2008) and Total Recall (2/1, 2017) are the clear favourites to win; Pearly Jack (2006) obliged at 3/1 joint-favourite |
| Typical winning SP | Most winners have gone off between 6/1 and 20/1 |
| Longest-priced winners | Brownie Returns (2003), Golden Kite (2010) and Tiger Roll (2016), all 20/1 |
| Leading trainers | Gordon Elliott and W P Mullins, three wins each |
| Leading recent yard | Eric McNamara (Croom), winners in 2024 and 2025 |
| A recognised route in | The 2023, 2024 and 2025 winners all ran in, and failed to win, the Kerry National at Listowel last time out |

The Kerry National angle is worth understanding for what it is: a note that horses often arrive here off a run at Listowel's big September handicap, not a signal that backing every Listowel runner turns a profit.

None of this makes the Munster National a race that can be bet for a profit. Over any meaningful sample, favourites lose money to their starting price, and the same is true of every mechanical staking method built around them. The trends above describe the past; they do not predict the next running, and a big-field handicap over three miles is designed to be competitive and hard to solve.

If you do have a bet, treat it as part of the entertainment of the day and set a limit you are comfortable losing. Support is available from GamCare and the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133, and BeGambleAware offers free, confidential help. Never bet more than you can afford to lose.

## The Munster National in the Season

The Munster National is the centrepiece of a two-day October meeting at Limerick, often billed as the Munster National Weekend, and it marks one of the first serious staying handicaps of the Irish National Hunt season. Coming in October, it draws thousands to Greenmount Park and gives the autumn jumps programme an early focal point in the south-west. The Saturday of the weekend is a Ladies' Day, with the Munster National itself run on the Sunday.

The feature race does not stand alone on the card. The weekend is supported by a stack of decent races, including a valuable handicap chase and Listed and graded hurdles. In recent years the support programme has featured the Shannon Transport Logistics Handicap Chase, worth €45,000 in 2025, the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Cailin Alainn Mares Hurdle at €27,500, and the Greenmount Novice Hurdle at €25,000. There is a strong charitable thread too, with JP and Noreen McManus supporting the weekend through a €40,000 charity sweepstake.

Many of the runners arrive off the autumn handicap trail rather than from a dedicated set of trials. The Kerry National at Listowel in September has become a well-worn stepping stone: the 2023, 2024 and 2025 Munster National winners all contested it on their previous start. That link makes the two big southern handicaps feel like consecutive chapters of the same early-season story.

Limerick's other flagship race comes two months later at a different meeting entirely. The four-day Limerick Christmas Festival, run from 26 to 29 December, is one of Ireland's major festive fixtures and sits alongside Leopardstown's Christmas meeting. Its headline act is the Grade 1 Faugheen Novice Chase, named after the horse who won the race in 2019, supported by the Grade 2 Dorans Pride Novice Hurdle and the Grade 2 Dawn Run Mares Novice Chase. Where the Munster National is a handicap that rewards stamina and a shrewd weights judgement, the Faugheen Novice Chase is a top-grade contest for the sport's emerging chasers, and the two give Limerick a big meeting at each end of the jumps calendar.

For the full picture of the track, its facilities and its wider fixture list, see the [Limerick Racecourse complete guide](/irish-racecourses/limerick/limerick-racecourse-complete-guide/).

## Watching and Attending

The Munster National is run in October, on the Sunday of Limerick's two-day October meeting. In 2025 the meeting fell across Saturday and Sunday, 18 and 19 October, with the Munster National off at 4.15pm on the Sunday. Off-times have moved around from year to year, so it is worth checking the official Limerick Racecourse calendar for the exact date and time before you travel or tune in.

Racing from Limerick is shown on Racing TV, which holds the Irish media rights for the course, in both Ireland and the UK. Racing TV is a subscription channel, available through television packages and its own streaming service, and account holders with the major bookmakers can usually watch or follow the race through their platforms too. For a weekend meeting of this profile the race is well covered, so you do not need to be at the track to see it.

If you do go, Limerick Racecourse sits at Greenmount Park, Patrickswell, about six miles south of Limerick city on the M20 at exit 4. There is free parking for more than 2,000 vehicles, and Limerick's Colbert Station is roughly 15 minutes away, with complimentary shuttle buses running from the station on selected racedays. Shannon Airport is about 15km from the course. Children are admitted free at every meeting, and the venue keeps a playground and on-course entertainment for families, which makes the October weekend an easy day out as well as a serious card.

The Saturday of the weekend is a Ladies' Day, so the meeting has a social side to match the racing, and there is no formal dress code beyond dressing for an Irish October. Admission is priced higher for the Munster National weekend than for ordinary cards, and the precise price bands are set each year, so check the official site when you plan your visit.

Wherever you watch from, the day is about the racing rather than a betting scheme. There is no reliable way to turn a profit on a three-mile handicap, so if you have a bet, keep it small and treat it as part of the occasion.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is the Munster National?

The Munster National is a handicap chase run over three miles at Limerick Racecourse, Greenmount Park, Patrickswell, each October. It is open to horses aged four and older, who jump 16 fences, two of them open ditches, twice around the right-handed track. Its full title is the JT McNamara Munster National, and it carries a prize fund of €100,000.

### What grade is the Munster National?

For years the racecards styled it a Grade A handicap, the top band of Irish handicaps, a designation that appeared on the 2015, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 runnings. From 2023 onwards the racecards have carried the Grade 3 label, which reflects the wider reclassification of premier handicaps in Ireland and Britain. Both point to the same competitive tier, and in 2025 the race was classified Grade 3.

### When is the Munster National run?

It is run in October, on the Sunday of Limerick's two-day October meeting. In 2025 the meeting was held on 18 and 19 October, with the Munster National on the Sunday at 4.15pm. Off-times and dates vary from year to year, so check the official Limerick Racecourse calendar before you travel.

### Why is it called the JT McNamara Munster National?

The race was renamed in 2016 in memory of John Thomas McNamara, the amateur jockey from Croom in County Limerick who was paralysed in a fall at Cheltenham in 2013 and died in July 2016, aged 41. The dedication ties the province's biggest jumps handicap to one of its own riders.

### Did Tiger Roll win the Munster National?

Yes. Tiger Roll won the 2016 Munster National at 20/1 on his handicap debut, ridden by Donagh Meyler for Gordon Elliott, winning by seven lengths from Stellar Notion. It was his first big success over fences and the springboard for a chasing career that produced back-to-back Grand Nationals in 2018 and 2019.

### Who has won the most Munster Nationals?

Among trainers, Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins each have three wins in the modern era. Elliott won with Tiger Roll (2016), Aforementioned (2020) and Gevrey (2023); Mullins with Total Recall (2017), Cabaret Queen (2019) and Ontheropes (2021). The local Croom trainer Eric McNamara took the last two runnings, in 2024 and 2025. Paul Townend is the leading rider across the last twenty renewals with two winners.

### How much is the Munster National worth?

The race has a prize fund of €100,000 in recent years. On the 2024 breakdown the winner collected €60,000, with €20,000 for second, €10,000 for third and €5,000 for fourth.

### Who sponsors the Munster National?

BoyleSports is the title sponsor of both the race and the two-day October Festival, contracted until 2028. Ladbrokes backed the race in the earlier modern era.

### How can I watch the Munster National?

Racing from Limerick is shown on Racing TV, which holds the Irish media rights for the course, in both Ireland and the UK. It is a subscription channel available through television packages and its own streaming service, and account holders with the major bookmakers can usually follow the race through their platforms.

### Is there a reliable way to bet on the Munster National?

No. A big-field staying handicap is one of the hardest puzzles in the sport, and over any meaningful sample favourites lose money to their starting price. Past trends are context only, not a profitable system. If you have a bet, keep it small, set a limit and treat it as part of the day. Support is available from GamCare and the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133.