Fairyhouse Racecourse

Fairyhouse is a wide, galloping, square-shaped right-handed track, described in course guides as roughly a mile and three-quarters round for jumps and about a mile and six furlongs on the Flat. The circuit features a steady climb on the side away from the stands, followed by a steady descent down the back straight. The home straight runs roughly two and a half to three furlongs and is slightly uphill, with a run-in of about a furlong over jumps. There are eleven fences to a circuit, and those fences are regarded as among the stiffer obstacles in Ireland. As a big, fair galloping course it produces few hard-luck stories and does not unduly favour one type, though it rewards genuine stayers and prominent racers; on the Flat the draw is generally not significant, though a low draw can matter over the shortest trips.

Racing at Fairyhouse traces back to 1848, when the Ward Union Hunt is recorded as having staged early racing on the land at Ratoath. The course's defining moment came in 1870, when it hosted the first running of the Irish Grand National, won by a horse named Sir Robert Peel; Fairyhouse has been the home of that steeplechase ever since, making it a fixture of Irish sport for more than 150 years. Over the decades it developed into a dual-purpose venue staging both Flat and jumps racing, and many of the sport's greats are associated with the track. The racecourse has since been redeveloped into one of Ireland's more modern racing facilities and now operates as part of the Horse Racing Ireland racecourse group.

Fairyhouse's headline meeting is its three-day Easter Festival, built around the Irish Grand National on Easter Monday. The National is a handicap steeplechase run over 3 miles 5 furlongs, in which horses aged five and older jump twenty-four fences; it is Ireland's most celebrated chase, classed as a Grade A handicap, and is guaranteed its place on the Easter bank holiday. The festival also carries several other top-grade jumps races across the Sunday and Monday. The course's other major date is the two-day Winter Festival, staged in late November or early December, whose feature is the Grade 1 Hatton's Grace Hurdle over about 2 miles 4 furlongs. Named after the triple Champion Hurdle winner Hatton's Grace, it is run on a card alongside other graded contests including the Grade 1 Drinmore Novice Chase and the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle.

Fairyhouse is located in the parish of Ratoath, County Meath, on the R155 regional road about 3km off the N3 and roughly 23km north of Dublin, making it an easy drive from the capital. The course is most readily reached by road, with the N3 and M3 corridor providing the main route from Dublin and the wider region; ample on-site parking is provided for raceday crowds. As a modern Irish racecourse it offers a range of enclosures, hospitality and dining facilities, and the Easter Festival in particular draws large, lively bank-holiday crowds.