Kinloch Brae Day at Thurles: The Complete Guide

The Kinloch Brae Chase is a Grade 2 steeplechase for chasers, run at Thurles in late January. Its official distance is about two and a half miles (2m4½f, quoted in some sources as 2m4f118y), and the 2026 running was measured at 2m4f66y. There are 14 fences to be jumped over a circuit and a bit, which on a sharp, undulating track puts a premium on clean, economical jumping. The race is currently run for its sponsor as the Horse & Jockey Hotel Chase, after the well-known local hotel that sits a few minutes from the course.

Grade 2 places the race in the second tier of Ireland's Pattern, below Grade 1 but comfortably inside the black-type contests that attract the leading yards. That status has not been constant. The race was downgraded to Grade 3 in 2017 and then restored to Grade 2 in 2018, and it has held Grade 2 rank since.

Prize money at this level fluctuates year to year with the sponsorship. The 2026 running carried a first prize of about EUR 27,000, which is representative of the recent pot rather than a fixed figure.

The Kinloch Brae sits within the season as a staying-chase trial. Because it comes in mid-January, a few weeks before the Dublin Racing Festival and about seven weeks before Cheltenham, it gives established chasers a competitive outing at a distance and on ground that reads across to the spring targets. That is why it has repeatedly turned up future Gold Cup and Ryanair Chase winners, a point covered in full under the great winners and the winter-season sections below.

The going is the other defining condition. Thurles turf is famously free-draining, so the meeting is rarely lost, but mid-winter still brings testing ground. The 2026 race was run on yielding to soft, and soft-to-heavy going does occur here, which suits horses with stamina for the uphill finish.

Kinloch Brae Chase	Detail
Grade	Grade 2 steeplechase
Distance	About 2m4½f (2m4f66y in 2026)
Fences	14
Month	Late January
First run	1997
2026 first prize	About EUR 27,000
Course	Thurles, Co. Tipperary

The Kinloch Brae Chase was first run in 1997, which makes it a relatively modern addition to a course whose own racing history stretches back to a recorded meeting in 1732. The inaugural running went to Merry Gale, trained by Jim Dreaper and ridden by Conor O'Dwyer, and Manhattan Castle followed as the winner in 1998. From those early runnings the race settled into its place as the highlight of the Thurles winter and the contest by which the meeting is known.

Through the 2000s the race built its reputation on the back of genuine top-class chasers using it as a mid-winter target. Native Upmanship gave it its first real dynasty, winning three years running in 2002, 2003 and 2004, and horses such as Newmill, a dual winner, and Hi Cloy kept the roll of honour strong. The pattern that would come to define the race, good staying chasers stopping off at Thurles on their way to bigger days, was established in this period.

The race's status has moved with the wider Irish Pattern. In 2017 it was downgraded from Grade 2 to Grade 3, one of a number of Irish contests reassessed that year, before being restored to Grade 2 in 2018. Since the restoration it has held its second-tier rank and continued to attract the strongest yards.

The modern era belongs to Willie Mullins. His first winner came with Apt Approach in 2012, and from 2020 onward the Closutton stable has dominated, taking the race with Real Steel in 2020 and then repeatedly through the decade. Alongside Mullins, jockey Paul Townend has become the rider most associated with the race in its recent runnings.

The most striking recent chapter is Allaho, who matched Native Upmanship's three-win record by taking the race in 2021, 2022 and 2024 before going on to Ryanair Chase honours at Cheltenham. His runnings confirmed the Kinloch Brae as a proper trial for the best staying two-and-a-half-mile chasers rather than a soft mid-winter prize.

The race now carries the added weight of a course in transition. In August 2025 the Molony family, who had owned Thurles since the early 1900s, announced the course's closure, and Horse Racing Ireland took over its operation later that month to keep the winter programme running through to March 2026. The Kinloch Brae has continued through that change, with Appreciate It landing back-to-back runnings in 2025 and 2026 for Mullins and Townend.

The Kinloch Brae Chase punches above its Grade 2 rank because of the quality of horse it has attracted. Its roll of honour includes two future Cheltenham Gold Cup winners and a multiple Ryanair Chase winner, which is why the race is treated as a serious trial rather than a routine winter contest.

Two horses share the record with three wins each. Native Upmanship set the mark first, winning in 2002, 2003 and 2004, a run of dominance that made him a Thurles favourite. Allaho matched it two decades later, taking the race in 2021, 2022 and 2024 for Willie Mullins before adding Ryanair Chase honours at the Cheltenham Festival. That two horses have each managed three wins tells you how much a strong staying chaser can make the Thurles trip a regular winter fixture.

The Gold Cup connection is the race's headline credential. Don Cossack won the Kinloch Brae before landing the 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and Sizing John did the same ahead of his 2017 Gold Cup. Allaho's later Ryanair Chase success completes the picture of a race that repeatedly identifies the best staying chasers in training before their spring peak.

Among the trainers, Willie Mullins stands clear. His winners run from Apt Approach in 2012 through Real Steel in 2020, Allaho in 2021, 2022 and 2024, and Appreciate It in 2025 and 2026, a total of seven and counting. That record reflects both the strength of the Closutton string and the way the yard uses Thurles as a mid-January staging post for its better chasers.

In the saddle, Paul Townend has become the rider most tied to the race in its modern runnings, with six wins to his name including Appreciate It in 2026. Earlier chapters belonged to other names, with Conor O'Dwyer aboard the first winner Merry Gale for Jim Dreaper in 1997.

The most recent runnings have been a Mullins procession. Appreciate It landed back-to-back editions in 2025 and 2026 to become the latest dual winner. The 2026 running, on Sunday 18 January, saw him go off the 1/1 favourite and win under Townend from stablemates James Du Berlais, who was second and beaten 12 lengths, and Gentleman De Mee in third, in a five-runner field. The race was completed in 5 minutes 25.10 seconds on yielding to soft ground for a first prize of about EUR 27,000.

Year	Winner	Trainer	Notes
1997	Merry Gale	Jim Dreaper	First running, ridden by Conor O'Dwyer
1998	Manhattan Castle	n/a	Second running
2002 to 2004	Native Upmanship	n/a	Three wins in a row
2012	Apt Approach	Willie Mullins	Mullins's first win in the race
2020	Real Steel	Willie Mullins	n/a
2021, 2022, 2024	Allaho	Willie Mullins	Three wins, later Ryanair Chase winner
2025, 2026	Appreciate It	Willie Mullins	Dual winner, ridden by Paul Townend

Names such as Newmill, a dual winner, and Hi Cloy also feature on the fuller roll of honour, underlining a list that mixes tough course specialists with future championship horses.

Before any of the patterns below, the single most important line for this section. Backing favourites loses money to Starting Price over time, at Thurles as at every other course. Everything here is descriptive context about how the Kinloch Brae and the Thurles track tend to play. None of it is a system, and none of it implies a way to bet the race for profit.

The track shapes the race. Thurles is a right-handed, undulating oval of about a mile and a quarter with a short uphill run-in of roughly a furlong and a quarter. There are seven fences to a full circuit, a plain fence on the descent to the home turn that can catch horses out, and a rising finish. That layout tends to reward handy, accurate jumpers with stamina, and to make life harder for long-striding types that want a galloping track. Horses well positioned two out, rather than those relying on one big late run, are suited by the sharp shape.

Going and stamina. The free-draining turf rarely turns bottomless, which is why the meeting so seldom falls to the weather, but mid-winter still produces testing ground. The 2026 race was run on yielding to soft, and soft-to-heavy going does occur here. On that sort of surface the uphill finish asks a real stamina question over the two-and-a-half-mile trip.

No draw factor. As a jumps race there is no draw to weigh, so the usual flat-track draw analysis does not apply. Field sizes in the feature are small, with five runners going to post in 2026, which is typical of a graded chase at this level.

The yards to note, described not recommended. Willie Mullins and Paul Townend have an exceptional recent record in the race, as the great winners section sets out, and the strongest Irish yards use the day as a trial. That is a description of who has won, not a tip on who will.

Descriptive pattern	What the dossier shows
Track type	Sharp, undulating, uphill finish; suits handy, accurate jumpers with stamina
Going in 2026	Yielding to soft; soft-to-heavy possible in mid-winter
Field size	Small graded-chase fields, five runners in 2026
Draw	Not applicable, jumps race

Treat all of the above as background reading rather than a route to a profit. Betting should be for entertainment, with only money you can afford to lose, and never chased. If it stops being fun, take a break. Help is available in Ireland and the UK through GambleAware and similar services.

The Kinloch Brae's place in the calendar is what gives it weight. Thurles does not stage a multi-day festival. Instead it runs about 11 fixtures spread across the winter, from October to March, mostly on Thursdays with a handful of weekend cards. The mid-January Sunday is the one that headlines the season, and the Kinloch Brae is its centrepiece.

That Sunday is a genuine showpiece rather than a single-race card, because it carries two Grade 2 contests. Alongside the Kinloch Brae runs the Anaglog's Daughter Mares Novice Chase, a Grade 2 novice chase for mares aged five and up over about two and a half miles with 14 fences. It was first run in 2003 as a Listed race, was awarded Grade 3 in 2004 and Grade 2 in 2013, and it honours Anaglog's Daughter, the 1980 Irish and British Arkle winner. It is often the most valuable race on the card, and Willie Mullins has a heavy record in it, with Henry de Bromhead taking the 2025 running with Nara to give owner JP McManus a record fourth win.

The timing is the point. The mid-January date falls a few weeks before the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown in early February and roughly seven weeks before the Cheltenham Festival in March. That makes the Kinloch Brae a natural trial for staying chasers pointing at the Gold Cup or the Ryanair Chase, which is why it has thrown up so many future championship winners. The Anaglog's Daughter serves the same purpose for the best novice chasing mares.

Thurles offers other graded pointers later in its season. The Grade 3 Michael Purcell Memorial Novice Hurdle headlines a February card, first run in 2004 and previously a Grade 2 before its 2017 downgrade, with Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott both strong in it. The Grade 3 Pierce Molony Memorial Novice Chase, registered as the Native Upmanship Novice Chase, headlines the early-March fixture. Together these keep Thurles busy as a trials venue right through to the spring.

For punters and racegoers, that context is the useful part. The Kinloch Brae is best read as one stop on the road to the Dublin Racing Festival and Cheltenham, not as an end in itself. For how the race tends to play, see the betting angles above, and for the full course picture see the Thurles Racecourse Complete Guide.

Thurles racing is broadcast on Racing TV, part of the Racecourse Media Group arrangement that covers Irish racecourses, so the Kinloch Brae card is shown there for subscribers. The meeting reached a wider audience once, when Thurles was screened on Britain's free-to-air ITV in 2020 during the pandemic while British racing was postponed, but that was an exception rather than a regular arrangement. Replays and results are available afterwards through Racing TV, the Racing Post, Sporting Life and At The Races or Sky Sports Racing.

On the day itself, the 2026 Kinloch Brae was off at about 15:20 as the feature of the mid-January Sunday card. The meeting is run in mid-January each year, but the exact date moves, so check the official calendar at thurlesraces.ie for the confirmed date before planning a visit. It is also worth noting that Horse Racing Ireland now operates the course, having taken over from the Molony family in August 2025, so arrangements may be updated on the official site.

Getting there is straightforward. The course sits about a mile west of Thurles town and roughly five miles west of the M8 Dublin to Cork road, which puts it fairly central within Ireland. Thurles railway station is on the Dublin to Cork line and is about a mile from the track, with a free minibus shuttle collecting racegoers at the station, and walking is an option too. The nearest major airport is Shannon. There is ample free parking at the racetrack.

Thurles runs a simple single-enclosure model, and admission is bought at the turnstiles on the day rather than pre-booked. Indicative recent prices, which are not confirmed as official 2026 figures, have been around EUR 15 for adults and roughly EUR 7 to EUR 8 for OAPs and students, with children admitted free with an adult. Membership has been offered separately. Confirm the current prices with the course before travelling.

There is no formal dress code. This is winter jump racing, so warm and waterproof clothing is the sensible choice. On-course catering and bars are available, and the Horse & Jockey Hotel, which sponsors the feature chase, is a well-known hospitality base a few minutes away. None of the day depends on having a bet, and if you do have one, keep it for fun and within a budget you are comfortable to lose.