Clonmel Oil Chase Day at Clonmel: The Complete Guide

The Clonmel Oil Chase, run officially as the Clonmel Oil Steeplechase, is a Grade 2 National Hunt steeplechase for horses aged four and older. It is run over about 2m4f in November and is the feature race of Clonmel's year.

The trip is best described as "about 2m4f" rather than a single fixed figure. Wikipedia records it as 2 miles 4 furlongs 51 yards (4,070 m), while the course itself has stated 4,023 m; recent racecards have listed distances from 2m4f96y to 2m4f171y, and some previews call it 2m5f. The variation reflects whether the inner or outer chase course is used. Around a circuit of the chase course there are seven fences on the outer track and six on the inner.

Prize money has grown over the years. The 2020 renewal was worth €50,000 in total, with €29,500 to the winner. By 2023, 2024 and 2025 the race carried €60,000 added, with €36,000 to the winner, €12,000 for second, €6,000 for third and €3,000 for fourth.

The table below sets out the race at a glance.

Detail	Clonmel Oil Chase
Grade	Grade 2
Code	National Hunt (steeplechase)
Distance	About 2m4f (2m4f51y / 4,070 m)
Age	Four years and older
Month	November
Fences per circuit	Seven (outer) / six (inner)
Prize money (2025)	€60,000 added, €36,000 to the winner
Sponsor	Clonmel Oil Company
First run	1992 (as the Morris Oil Chase)

The race sits at the sharp end of Clonmel's programme. The track is a right-handed, undulating oval of about 1¼ miles with a stiff uphill finish, a circuit that produces course specialists and tends to reward horses ridden prominently. As a staying-chase test in early winter, the Oil Chase gives leading yards a valuable early-season target, and its roll of honour of Gold Cup and Champion Chase horses reflects the standard it has drawn. The record of past winners is set out in the roll of honour below; it is history, not a betting guide.

The race was first run in 1992, over three miles in December, as the Morris Oil Chase. The "Morris" name came from the Morris Oil business run by T.A. Morris; the mares' chase on the same card, the T.A. Morris Memorial Mares Chase, still carries that family name today.

The race took its modern shape quickly. In 1994 it was cut by half a mile, to about 2m4f, and moved from December to November, the slot it has held ever since. Its status then climbed in two steps: Grade 3 in 1995 and Grade 2 in 1996. It has stayed at Grade 2 since.

The title changed in 2003, when the Clonmel Oil Company took over as sponsor and the race was first run as the Clonmel Oil Chase. The company has backed the feature ever since. In November 2020, when the racecourse marked what it called the "18th consecutive year" of Clonmel Oil sponsorship, a run that traces back to that 2003 start.

The defining chapter of the race's history belongs to Dorans Pride. Between 1997 and 2000 the Michael Hourigan-trained chestnut won the race four years in a row, a sequence no other horse has come close to matching. The opening win set the tone: in 1997, at 1/2, he beat the 1996 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Imperial Call by nine lengths, stamping his class on a race he would go on to own. The wins made Clonmel synonymous with him, and the crowds came in numbers to see "the old fella."

Hourigan added a further layer two years after the sequence ended. In 2002 he sent the novice Beef Or Salmon straight over fences in what was then still the Morris Oil Chase, against seasoned chasers, and the horse won under Paul Carberry at 7/2 on heavy ground. Beef Or Salmon had already made his name at Clonmel, winning a bumper there by 15 lengths in November 2001, so his Oil Chase win tied the race even more tightly to the Hourigan yard.

Since 2013 the modern era has belonged to Willie Mullins, whose runners have won the race ten times. Along the way the roll of honour has gathered a remarkable depth of quality, from Gold Cup and Champion Chase winners of the past to the top Mullins chasers of recent seasons.

The full roll of honour, from the official clonmelraces.ie winners list, runs from the race's first running in 1992 to 2025.

Year	Winner
1992	Fissure Seal
1993	King Of The Gales
1994	Belvederian
1995	Imperial Call
1996	Royal Mountbrowne
1997	Dorans Pride
1998	Dorans Pride
1999	Dorans Pride
2000	Dorans Pride
2001	Moscow Express
2002	Beef Or Salmon
2003	Edredon Bleu
2004	Rathgar Beau
2005	War Of Attrition
2006	Sir OJ
2007	Mossbank
2008	Glenfinn Captain
2009	Watson Lake
2010	Tranquil Sea
2011	Tranquil Sea
2012	Sizing Europe
2013	Arvika Ligeonniere
2014	Champagne Fever
2015	Road To Riches
2016	Alelchi Inois
2017	Alpha Des Obeaux
2018	Kemboy
2019	Douvan
2020	Bachasson
2021	Fakir D'Oudairies
2022	Blue Lord
2023	Allaho
2024	Saint Sam
2025	Il Etait Temps

Dorans Pride, the four in a row

The defining record of the race belongs to Dorans Pride, who won it four consecutive years for Michael Hourigan. He started odds-on for all four, and each win added to the legend. In 1997 he beat the reigning Gold Cup winner Imperial Call by nine lengths. In 1998 he won by a distance, recorded as 35 lengths or more, the most emphatic of the four. Ridden by Richard Dunwoody for the first two and by P.G. Hourigan for the last two, he built a sequence that no horse has matched.

Year	Jockey	SP	Result
1997	R Dunwoody	1/2f	Won 9L from Imperial Call (3 ran)
1998	R Dunwoody	1/5f	Won 35L+ from Merry People (4 ran)
1999	P G Hourigan	4/5f	Won 3½L from His Song (6 ran)
2000	P G Hourigan	4/6f	Won 2½L from Clash Of The Gales (8 ran)

Away from Clonmel, Dorans Pride was one of Ireland's leading staying chasers of the late 1990s, a Cheltenham Stayers' Hurdle winner in 1995 and a Grade 1 winner over fences, twice placed third in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He died on Gold Cup day in March 2003, aged 14, after a fall in the Foxhunter Chase. His name lives on in the Dorans Pride Novice Hurdle at Limerick, first run that same year in tribute.

Beef Or Salmon and the Hourigan link

The other horse bound up with the race is Beef Or Salmon, also a chestnut gelding trained by Hourigan. He announced himself at Clonmel with a 15-length bumper win in November 2001, then took the 2002 Morris Oil Chase on his chasing debut, under Paul Carberry at 7/2 on heavy ground, against a field of hardened chasers that included Moscow Express. He went on to win ten Grade 1 races, among them three Irish Gold Cups and a record three Lexus Chases, though he never won at the Cheltenham Festival despite five runs in the Gold Cup.

The leading connections

The record can be read three ways. The most successful horse is Dorans Pride, with four wins. The most successful trainer is Willie Mullins, with ten wins, all since 2013. The most successful jockey is Paul Townend, with seven wins between 2014 and 2025. Recent verified renewals underline the Mullins and Townend grip: Allaho won at 1/4 in 2023, Saint Sam at 6/4 in 2024, and Il Etait Temps by 18 lengths at 2/9 in 2025, all for Mullins and Townend. Mouse Morris interrupted the modern run when Alpha Des Obeaux won at 7/1 in 2017.

A few patterns describe how the Clonmel Oil Chase has tended to run. They are context for reading the race, not a system for beating it. Over time, backing favourites loses money to starting price, and there is no angle here or anywhere else that turns a horse race into a profit.

The track shapes the race. Clonmel is a right-handed, undulating oval of about 1¼ miles with a stiff uphill finish. Former riders describe it as a front-runners' track that produces course specialists, where it is hard to win from off the pace unless the tempo is strong and horses have to be given a breather up the far hill. Over about 2m4f with fences to jump, that favours proven, prominently ridden stayers rather than hold-up horses looking for a turn of foot.

Short-priced winners are the norm. Because a Grade 2 with a modest field size often draws one or two standout chasers from the top yards, the race has tended to go to well-fancied runners. The verified recent results bear that out: Sizing Europe won at 1/7 in 2012, Allaho at 1/4 in 2023, Saint Sam at 6/4 in 2024 and Il Etait Temps at 2/9 in 2025. Alpha Des Obeaux at 7/1 in 2017 stands out precisely because he beat the pattern. None of this makes short-priced favourites a route to profit; it simply describes how the race has often played out.

One yard dominates the modern race. Willie Mullins has won the race ten times since 2013, and Paul Townend has ridden seven winners. That is a historical record of strength at the track, not a tip. A short-priced Mullins favourite is still a short-priced favourite, and the market has already taken that dominance into account.

Pattern	What the record shows
Track type	Front-runners' course, rewards prominent racers and course specialists
Field size	Typically small for a Grade 2
Favourites	Have won most recent renewals, but lose to SP over time
Modern yard	Willie Mullins, ten wins since 2013

Treat all of the above as background reading. The figures are historical and describe what has happened, not what will happen, and none of them shortens the house's edge.

If betting is part of your day out, set a budget you are happy to lose before you start and stick to it. When it stops being fun, stop. Free help is available in Ireland from Gambling Awareness Trust and in the UK from BeGambleAware at begambleaware.org, and GamCare runs the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133. Anyone under 18 must not bet.

The Clonmel Oil Chase runs on a Thursday in early-to-mid November. The exact date moves from year to year, so check clonmelraces.ie before you plan; in 2025 the meeting was held on Thursday 6 November and in 2024 on Thursday 7 November.

On television

Clonmel racing is covered in Ireland and the UK by Racing TV, which holds the Irish media rights. The Oil Chase has also reached a wider free-to-air audience through ITV4, which covered the fixture for the first time in 2020, alongside the usual Racing TV coverage.

The card on the day

The Oil Chase is the centrepiece of a seven-race card. In 2025 the headline race went off at 2.55pm, with the day built around it. The supporting programme was:

• INH Stallion Owners EBF Maiden Hurdle
• Connollys Red Mills Irish EBF Auction Maiden Hurdle
• Clonmel Oil Service Station Handicap Hurdle
• T.A. Morris Memorial Irish EBF Mares Steeplechase (Listed)
• Clonmel Oil Steeplechase (Grade 2), the feature
• Prior Park Service Station Clonmel Handicap Steeplechase
• A closing flat race (bumper)

The strongest supporting race is the Listed T.A. Morris Memorial Mares Chase, run over the same course and distance as the Oil Chase, which routinely draws quality staying mares. The competitive handicap hurdle and chase and the concluding bumper round out a full afternoon.

Attending

Clonmel is at Powerstown Park, Davis Road, about 2km from Clonmel town centre in Co. Tipperary. Badges and tickets are sold through the Buy Badge and Buy Tickets links on clonmelraces.ie, and Masterchefs Hospitality runs the raceday catering. The 160-acre wooded setting in the Suir Valley gives excellent viewing from around the enclosures, which suits a big feature day.

Beyond the racing, the Oil Chase functions as a recognised early-season staying-chase pointer. Past winners have gone on to Cheltenham Gold Cups and Champion Chases, so the day is worth following for what it can tell you about the winter ahead as much as for the afternoon itself. For tickets, travel and enclosure detail, see the Clonmel Racecourse Complete Guide.