The Leopardstown Christmas Festival: A Complete Guide

When and where

The 2026 Leopardstown Christmas Festival runs from Saturday 26 to Tuesday 29 December, four consecutive days beginning on St Stephen's Day. Those dates are as reliable as anything in racing: the meeting always occupies 26 to 29 December, so expect the 2027 edition on the same dates, although they have not yet been published. Seven Grade 1 races are spread across the four cards, and the day-by-day guide sets out which championship races fall on which afternoon.

Each day follows the same rhythm: gates open at about 10am, the first of seven races goes off at about noon, and the features come mid-afternoon. December daylight is short, so the card is compact and the big races arrive quickly. Arriving early is sensible on any of the four days, and near essential on the busiest ones.

The venue is Leopardstown Racecourse at Foxrock, Dublin 18, roughly 8 km (five to six miles) south of Dublin city centre at the foot of the Dublin Mountains. It is the only racecourse in the Irish capital, and our Leopardstown course guide covers the track itself in full. For a snapshot of dates, headline races and a countdown, the festival's calendar page keeps the essentials in one place.

Public transport is the smart play at Christmas. The Luas Green Line runs from St Stephen's Green to Sandyford in about 20 to 22 minutes, from where the course is a walk of around 10 to 18 minutes or a complimentary race-day shuttle bus. A free shuttle also operates from Blackrock DART station during the festival, but note it does not run on St Stephen's Day, and Race & Rail ticket-holders get priority. The 114 bus stops at the main gate and connects with Blackrock DART. Driving, take Exit 15 off the M50 and follow signs to Car Park G; on-site parking is free but limited, and with festival crowds regularly topping 60,000 across the four days, the Leopardstown Road approach at Junction 14 is prone to long delays.

On price, third-party guides give indicative figures of about €30 for adults at the Christmas Festival, about €20 for students and OAPs, and about €60 for top-tier grandstand seats; these are indicative only, so confirm current prices on leopardstown.com before booking. Under-12s go free with a paying adult. For enclosures, hospitality and what to book, see going to the festival.

Day by day: the four cards

The festival always runs 26 to 29 December: in 2026 that means four seven-race cards from Saturday 26 to Tuesday 29 December, gates around 10am, first race around noon, with seven Grade 1 races across the week. Each day has its own identity, and the crowd changes with it.

Day 1, St Stephen's Day: Racing Post Novice Chase day

The opener leans towards the next generation. The Grade 2 Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle starts the week, and the feature is the Grade 1 Racing Post Novice Chase over about 2m1f, a race with a roll of honour that includes Moscow Flyer, Sizing Europe, Douvan and Min. It was rested from the programme in 2024 and reinstated in 2025, when Romeo Coolio won it for Gordon Elliott and Jack Kennedy. Willie Mullins has trained nine winners of the race.

Day 2, 27 December: Paddy Power Chase day

One of the festival's biggest days, drawing 18,000 plus. Two Grade 1s top the card: the Paddy's Rewards Club Chase over about 2m1f, won by Solness in both 2024 and 2025 for Joseph O'Brien, and the Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle over 2m, a race previously won by Istabraq, Hurricane Fly and Jezki. Alongside them sits the Paddy Power Steeplechase itself, a valuable handicap chase worth about €110,000 that fills the track with runners and gives the day its cavalry-charge feel.

Day 3, 28 December: Savills Chase day

The championship day. The Grade 1 Savills Chase over 3m is the meeting's flagship, covered in full in the Savills Chase section, and it shares the card with the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle, a staying contest over close to 3m won in 2025 by Teahupoo for Gordon Elliott. In 2025 the Savills went to 7/1 shot Affordale Fury, ending Galopin Des Champs's bid for a third straight win.

Day 4, 29 December: Matheson Hurdle day and Family Day

The closer belongs to the two-mile hurdlers. The Grade 1 Matheson Hurdle honours Istabraq, who won it four times, and in 2025 it went to Lossiemouth for Willie Mullins, her ninth Grade 1. This is also the family day: under-12s go free with a paying adult, there is face-painting and games, and the Savills Style Awards give the fashion crowd their moment. The supporting card includes the Grade 3 Leopardstown EBF Mares Hurdle, with the rest of the programme varying year to year.

Dates, tickets and travel for all four days are covered in when and where.

Day	Date (2026)	Headline races
Day 1	Saturday 26 December	Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle (G2), Racing Post Novice Chase (G1)
Day 2	Sunday 27 December	Paddy's Rewards Club Chase (G1), Future Champions Novice Hurdle (G1), Paddy Power Steeplechase (handicap)
Day 3	Monday 28 December	Savills Chase (G1), Christmas Hurdle (G1)
Day 4	Tuesday 29 December	Matheson Hurdle (G1), Savills Style Awards

The Savills Chase

The Savills Chase is the festival's centrepiece: a Grade 1 staying chase over three miles, run on 28 December, the third of the four days. It is Ireland's midwinter championship test for top staying chasers, and its result feeds straight into the Cheltenham Gold Cup picture.

The race has worn several names. It began in 1986 as the Black & White Whisky Champion Chase, run over about two and a half miles, and moved to its present three-mile trip in 1992 as the Ericsson Chase. From 2004 to 2016 it was the Lexus Chase, and Savills has sponsored since the 2017/18 season.

The roll of honour reads like a history of staying chasing on both sides of the Irish Sea. Best Mate won in 2003, and Beef Or Salmon holds the race record with three wins. Raiders from Britain have made their mark too: Denman took it in 2007 and Synchronised in 2011. More recently A Plus Tard won in 2020, and Galopin Des Champs, the dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, landed back-to-back renewals in 2023 (by 23 lengths) and 2024 (by seven and a half lengths from Fact To File, in front of a crowd of more than 17,000).

The 2025 running showed why the race is never a procession. Galopin Des Champs, sent off the 6/5 favourite, was bidding to become the first horse to win three in a row, but could finish only third behind 7/1 shot Affordale Fury, trained by Noel Meade and ridden by Sam Ewing, with 2024 Grand National winner I Am Maximus second. Even a dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner found Leopardstown's three miles no formality.

Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott have four wins apiece over the last 20 renewals, mirroring their grip on Irish jumps racing, and Jack Kennedy is the leading jockey over that span with three.

The Savills also feeds directly into Leopardstown's other big winter target: seven of the last twelve Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup winners came to that race via the Savills Chase, which is why so many of the same horses return for the Dublin Racing Festival in early February. On the day itself, the Savills shares the card with the Grade 1 staying Christmas Hurdle, covered with the meeting's other Grade 1 races.

The Other Grade 1s

The Savills Chase takes the headlines, but it is one of seven Grade 1s run across the four days. These are the others worth knowing before you look at a card.

Matheson Hurdle (2m, 29 December)

The final-day feature and Ireland's mid-season 2-mile hurdling championship, registered as the December Festival Hurdle. It previously carried Istabraq's name in honour of his four wins, and the great horses keep stacking up: Hurricane Fly and Sharjah also won it four times each, State Man is another multiple winner, and Lossiemouth landed the 2025 renewal at 4/6, her ninth Grade 1, holding off Brighterdaysahead. Willie Mullins has a record 11 wins in the race across four horses, which tells you most of what you need to know about the market here.

Jack De Bromhead Christmas Hurdle (about 3m, 28 December)

Unlike the better-known 2m hurdling championships, Leopardstown's Christmas Hurdle is a staying hurdle over roughly three miles, sharing Savills Chase day. Home By The Lee won it twice for Joseph O'Brien (2022 and 2024), and Teahupoo took the 2025 running by seven lengths from Bob Olinger for Gordon Elliott and Jack Kennedy. It regularly shapes the Stayers' Hurdle picture for March.

Paddy's Rewards Club Chase (2m1f, 27 December)

The 2-mile chasers' championship of the meeting, a Grade 1 since 2007. Recent rolls of honour feature A Plus Tard, Chacun Pour Soi and Envoi Allen, but the standout story is Solness, who won back-to-back renewals for Joseph O'Brien: at 28/1 in 2024, then at 8/1 in 2025 when he held off Marine Nationale. A useful reminder that even championship races here are not processions for the favourite.

Paddy Power Future Champions Novice Hurdle (2m, 27 December)

A Grade 1 since 2008 and one of the best pointers to the following spring's novice picture. Istabraq, Hurricane Fly, Jezki and Sizing John all appear on the roll. Romeo Coolio won in 2024 for Gordon Elliott, and stablemate Skylight Hustle followed up in 2025 under Jack Kennedy.

Racing Post Novice Chase (2m1f, 26 December)

St Stephen's Day's Grade 1, with a roll of honour including Moscow Flyer, Sizing Europe, Douvan and Min, and nine wins for Willie Mullins. It was dropped from the programme after 2023 in an HRI reshuffle, then reinstated in 2025, when Romeo Coolio won it at 8/15 for Gordon Elliott.

Two threads run through all five races. First, Mullins and Elliott dominate, and many recent winners have gone off at cramped prices, which leave no margin when one gets turned over. Second, these races are trials as much as targets: the form feeds straight into the Dublin Racing Festival in February and Cheltenham in March, which is why the paddock inspection here matters more than the trophy. For where each race sits in the running order, see the day-by-day guide.

Atmosphere and the Christmas Tradition

For a lot of Dublin, a trip to Leopardstown sits alongside the turkey sandwiches as part of Christmas itself. The festival is the walk-it-off day out of the Irish holiday calendar: four days of top-class jumping, a catch-up with friends and family, and a reason to get out of the house between St Stephen's Day and New Year. The crowds bear that out. The four-day aggregate has topped 60,000 every year since 2022: 60,478 in 2022, 62,048 in 2023, 62,748 in 2024, and 67,202 in 2025, a rise of 7 per cent on the previous year that HRI Racecourses chief executive Paul Dermody called "remarkable".

Each day has its own character. The 27th, Paddy Power Chase day, draws crowds of 18,000 or more, while live music runs daily in the festival marquee, so the party carries on well after the last race. The final day, 29 December, doubles as the festival's dressed-up family occasion: the Savills Style Awards reward the best-turned-out racegoers, under-12s go free with a paying adult, and face-painting and games keep younger visitors busy around the Grade 1 action on Matheson Hurdle day.

That blend is the festival's real signature. Serious championship racing, seven Grade 1s across the four days, shares the venue with people who come once a year for the occasion, and both crowds get what they came for. It is also the start of a run: the Irish jumps winter builds from here through February's Dublin Racing Festival to the season finale at the Punchestown Festival in the spring. For what is actually run each afternoon, see the day-by-day breakdown; for tickets, gate times and how to plan the trip itself, see going to the festival.

Going to the festival

Tickets for the Christmas Festival are straightforward. Indicative pricing from recent guides puts general admission at about €30 for adults and about €20 for students and OAPs, with top-tier grandstand seats around €60, and under-12s go free with a paying adult. Those figures are a guide rather than gospel, so confirm current prices on leopardstown.com before you book. General admission covers the whole enclosure including the lower grandstand, while the premium levels add a reserved seat and access to exclusive bars and lounges. Dress code is smart casual across all four days.

If you are travelling from Britain or making a weekend of it, Race & Stay packages bundle accommodation, breakfast, tickets and transport from about €157 to €177 per guest. Hospitality runs from the 1888 Restaurant on the second floor, overlooking the parade ring, to the Pavilion and private suites such as the Panoramic Suite and Circle Lounge; the Molly Malones package in the Pavilion includes a buffet with a view of the final bend.

Arrive early on the big days. Gates open around 10am with the first race about noon, and with 67,202 through the turnstiles across the four days in 2025, the 27 and 28 December cards in particular fill up fast. Full travel detail, from the M50 exits to the Luas shuttle from Sandyford, is in our Leopardstown course guide.

One honest note before you plan your budget. The betting ring is part of the day, and part of the fun, but no festival form angle beats the market, so treat any money you bring as the price of the entertainment rather than an investment. If you do plan a bet, compare the current bookmaker offers before the festival rather than signing up trackside.

For what the four days actually feel like once you are through the gates, see the atmosphere section, and if you have a practical question we have not covered, try the FAQ.