New Year's Day at Tramore: The Complete Guide

The New Year's Day Chase is a Grade 3 National Hunt steeplechase for horses aged five and older, run each year on 1 January at Tramore. Its full current title is the O'Driscoll's Irish Whiskey New Year's Day Chase, after the whiskey brand that took over the sponsorship from 2025. It is the only graded race Tramore stages, so for one afternoon a small Waterford track holds a contest that attracts genuinely high-class staying chasers.

The distance is about 2m7f. Official listings for the 2026 running give it as 2 miles 6 furlongs and 170 yards, which rounds to 2m7f. That has not always been the trip: under its earlier names the race was run at 2m5f and 2m6f, so older previews describe it as shorter. On a circuit of only about seven furlongs with five fences to a lap, a race at this distance means the field completes several tight laps of a sharp, undulating course that plenty of horses simply fail to handle.

Prize money has moved around rather than climbed steadily. The 2026 renewal carried an advertised fund of €37,500, with €22,125 to the winner, €7,125 for second and €3,375 for third. Earlier renewals under previous sponsors ran for €26,040 in 2007 and €19,500 in 2013, so the value has fluctuated over the years.

From 2025 the sponsors added an incentive on top of the prize fund. For the 2026 running, O'Driscoll's offered a €50,000 bonus to the winning connections if the horse went on to win any race at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival, reflecting the way the race has grown into a recognised trail towards the Gold Cup.

Detail	New Year's Day Chase
Grade	Grade 3
Distance	About 2m7f (2m 6f 170y)
Age	Five-year-olds and up
Course	Tramore, Co. Waterford
When	1 January
Prize money (2026)	€37,500 total, winner €22,125
Grade awarded	2020 (previously Listed)
Sponsor (from 2025)	O'Driscoll's Irish Whiskey

For most of its history the New Year's Day feature was a Listed race that changed its name with its sponsor. It ran as the Wilf Dooly Chase, a Listed contest over 2m6f, through the late 2000s, with results from 2007, 2008 and 2009 all carrying that title. It then became the Holden Plant Rentals Chase, still Listed, and was run over 2m5f in the 2013 renewal.

The turning point came in 2020, when the race was upgraded from Listed to Grade 3. That gave Tramore its only graded race and lifted the New Year's Day fixture from a popular holiday meeting into one with a genuinely pattern-class centrepiece. Through the Savills-sponsored era, which ran up to the 2024 renewal, the contest was known as the Savills New Year's Day Chase. From 2025 O'Driscoll's Irish Whiskey took over as title sponsor, and the race has run under that name in 2025 and 2026.

One older renewal captures the character of the race. In 2008, still the Wilf Dooly Chase, Jessica Harrington's Knight Legend won under Barry Geraghty after Willie Mullins's odds-on Our Ben suffered a fatal fall at the second-last while in contention. Harrington acknowledged the bittersweet nature of the result, saying she did not like winning races that way.

The modern race is defined by two things: the 2020 upgrade to Grade 3, and its emergence as a Gold Cup trail. When Al Boum Photo won the 2019 renewal on his way to giving Mullins a first Cheltenham Gold Cup two months later, the race gained a reputation as a springboard for the best staying chasers, and that reputation has held since.

Tramore's own story stretches back much further. Racing began on the beach at Tramore in 1785, and after storms wrecked the strand course the meeting moved to the present inland site at Graun Hill, where racing has taken place since 1912.

The roll of honour is dominated by one stable to a degree that few graded races can match. Willie Mullins has won the New Year's Day Chase nine times, and Paul Townend is the leading jockey with five wins. Between them they turned a Waterford New Year fixture into a Closutton benefit.

At the centre of it is Al Boum Photo. He won the race four years running from 2019 to 2022, the most successful horse in its history, and used it as his traditional seasonal reappearance before going on to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He came back each January to the same seaside track, won as an odds-on favourite three times in a row, and completed his fourth in 2022 in front of a devoted local crowd. His popularity was such that the racecourse spoke of naming a bar after Mullins in recognition of the horse.

Henry de Bromhead, the County Waterford trainer, has been the main challenger to the Mullins run. He won with Champagne West in 2017, then took three of four recent renewals: Minella Indo, a former Gold Cup winner, under Rachael Blackmore in 2023; Jungle Boogie in 2024; and Heart Wood under Darragh O'Keeffe in 2026, which gave him a third win in the race in four years. Gordon Elliott has won it twice, both with Roi Du Mee, in 2013 and 2015.

The roll of honour below is drawn from published racecards and result services back to 2005; the 2005 jockey and renewals before 2005 could not be confirmed, and are left as n/a. Where a starting price was not confirmed, it is shown as n/a rather than guessed.

Year	Winner	Jockey	SP	Trainer
2026	Heart Wood	Darragh O'Keeffe	2/1 jt-fav	Henry de Bromhead
2025	Embassy Gardens	Michael O'Sullivan	9/1	Willie Mullins
2024	Jungle Boogie	Darragh O'Keeffe	n/a	Henry de Bromhead
2023	Minella Indo	Rachael Blackmore	7/4	Henry de Bromhead
2022	Al Boum Photo	Paul Townend	1/6 fav	Willie Mullins
2021	Al Boum Photo	Paul Townend	2/9 fav	Willie Mullins
2020	Al Boum Photo	Paul Townend	4/7 fav	Willie Mullins
2019	Al Boum Photo	Ruby Walsh	2/1 fav	Willie Mullins
2018	Bachasson	Paul Townend	1/1 fav	Willie Mullins
2017	Champagne West	D J Mullins	2/1	Henry de Bromhead
2016	Abandoned	n/a	n/a	n/a
2015	Roi Du Mee	K C Sexton	5/1	Gordon Elliott
2014	Marito	Paul Townend	13/8 jt-fav	Willie Mullins
2013	Roi Du Mee	Davy Russell	1/1 fav	Gordon Elliott
2012	Apt Approach	D J Casey	5/1	Willie Mullins
2011	Barker	D J Casey	5/1	Willie Mullins
2010	The Fonze	J R Barry	12/1	Eoin Doyle
2009	One Cool Cookie	Davy Russell	7/4 fav	Charlie Swan
2008	Knight Legend	Barry Geraghty	2/1	Jessica Harrington
2007	Cloudy Bays	Davy Russell	5/1	C Byrnes
2006	Kymandjen	J L Cullen	4/1	Paul Nolan
2005	Cloudy Bays	n/a	n/a	C Byrnes

The pattern of favourites winning is clear across the table, and The Fonze in 2010 stands out as the biggest-priced recent winner at 12/1. Davy Russell rode three winners of the race, in 2007, 2009 and 2013, and Darragh O'Keeffe has now won it twice.

Tramore is one of the tightest, most idiosyncratic tracks in Ireland, and the New Year's Day Chase reflects it. The points below are context for reading the race, not a system to bet. Over time, backing favourites loses money to starting price, and no angle here should be treated as a route to profit.

Course form counts for a lot. The sharp, undulating, right-handed circuit of barely seven furlongs, with a short uphill straight, produces course specialists among both horses and jockeys. Many horses never act around it. Previous course form over jumps is a meaningful pointer, and the same yards and riders return year after year, which is part of why the roll of honour is so concentrated.

Front-runners and handy types are favoured on quicker ground. The tight turns and short run-in of around 160 yards make it very hard to make up ground from behind, so prominent, well-balanced runners hold an advantage. On soft going, which is common on 1 January, horses can come from further off the pace. There is no draw bias to weigh here: this is a chase, and Tramore uses flag starts on the Flat rather than stalls.

Favourites win often, but that is not an edge. About ten of the last twenty renewals went to the favourite, and the table is full of odds-on winners from the Mullins yard. That reflects short-priced good horses turning up at a small track, not a profitable pattern. The market has already priced them in, and following favourites blindly still loses to SP over time. The Fonze at 12/1 in 2010 is the reminder that the shocks come.

Angle	What the record shows
Favourites	Around 10 of the last 20 renewals; still loses to SP long term
Dominant yard	Willie Mullins, 9 wins; Henry de Bromhead prominent recently
Course type	Sharp, undulating, right-handed; rewards handy course specialists
Going	Usually soft on 1 January, which lets closers into it

Responsible Betting

Set a budget before the day and treat it as your entertainment allowance. A day at Tramore is a good one whether your selection wins or not. You must be 18 or over to bet. For support with gambling, visit BeGambleAware.org.

Tramore holds eleven fixtures a year, and two of them carry the identity of the place. The New Year's Day meeting on 1 January and the four-day August Festival in the middle of summer are the poles of the Tramore calendar, and the Grade 3 chase is the anchor of the first.

The New Year's Day card is traditionally the first Irish race meeting of the year. It is a seven-race programme built around the Grade 3 feature, supported by maiden and handicap hurdles and handicap chases, and it draws big holiday-season crowds to the hilltop above Tramore Bay. The racecourse treats it as one of the most important social occasions of the Christmas and New Year period in the region. For the best staying chasers it has become an early-season target with a clear line towards Cheltenham: Al Boum Photo used it as his reappearance run before winning two Gold Cups, and the sponsors now attach a €50,000 bonus for a winner who follows up at the Cheltenham Festival.

The August Festival is Tramore's biggest and most famous fixture, and it could hardly be more different in mood. It runs over four days from Thursday to Sunday, marketed as the place "where turf meets surf". Three of the days stage National Hunt cards and one stages a Flat card, the Saturday Style Evening, with seven races on each. There is live music, a BBQ evening and a family day woven through it. The first three days are evening meetings; the final day is an afternoon fixture. The festival is a major summer draw for the town: the 2019 running attracted 21,268 patrons over the four days, up from 18,034 the year before.

The August meeting has its own feature races rather than a graded contest, and its origins as an August festival trace back as far as 1807. Between them, New Year's Day and the August Festival give Tramore its two great days.

For the tracks, tickets, travel and history in full, see the Tramore Racecourse Complete Guide.

The New Year's Day meeting is run on 1 January, and the Grade 3 chase is the highlight of a seven-race card. In 2026 the race was scheduled for 14:25, with the meeting starting earlier in the afternoon, so it works as a middle-of-the-day centrepiece rather than a twilight finish. Off-times move year to year, so check the official card in the days before.

On television, Tramore's racing is shown on Racing TV, which has carried all Irish courses since 2019. That is the way to watch the race live if you are not there in person, with replays available afterwards through the usual form services.

For those going in person, Tramore sits at Graun Hill above the seaside town, about 12km from Waterford city. There is no railway station in the town: the nearest is Plunkett Station in Waterford, served by daily trains from Dublin Heuston, and from there it is a short taxi ride or the 360 bus, which runs roughly every half hour. By road it is about a 15-minute drive from Waterford city, well signposted, and there is ample free parking on site with accessible spaces near the entrances.

General admission has been around €15 for adults and about €10 for concessions such as students and OAPs, with under-16s free when accompanied by a paying adult. On a cold New Year's Day the enclosed bars and viewing areas matter, and the hilltop setting gives panoramic views over Tramore Strand and the bay.

Whether you watch on Racing TV or make the trip, the day is worth it for the occasion as much as the result. The best way to enjoy it is to treat any bet as part of the entertainment rather than the point of the day.