Limerick Races Today – Read Limerick Tips from Greenmount Park
Since 2001, Limerick races have been staged at Greenmount Park a dozen kilometres southwest of the city centre. This purpose-built racecourse replaced Greenpark, which was the long-time site for the sport of horse racing in County Limerick.
While it’s one of the newer tracks in Ireland, then, this venue has Grade 1 National Hunt racing action take place at it now each and every Christmastime. We have Limerick tips for the festive period and more besides on this page.
History of Limerick Racecourse
Horse racing in County Limerick dates back to at least 1790. Race meetings took place at venues like Bruff, Rathkeale, Newcastle West, Lemonfield and Ballinacurra before settling with some permanence at Greenpark in the middle of the Victorian Age.
The proximity of that to Limerick itself on its southern fringes certainly helped to popularise the sport in the area. For the next 130 years, Greenpark Racecourse served the County Town well. As urbanisation caused the growth of Limerick City with sprawling suburbs south of the River Shannon, there was little room for the track to expand though.
By the late 1990s, it was clear that Limerick races needed to move. After the purchase of its current site at Greenmount Park near the village of Patrickswell in 1996, Greenpark Racecourse closed in 1999. The new venue some six kilometres from the city boundary opened two years later in a new century. Over the next 25 years, Limerick has developed into a track that hosts a Grade 1 event in jumps racing.
HRI has certainly invested in the National Hunt programme here. During Limerick’s four-day Christmas Festival, there are now three graded races and two Listed handicaps as a result of upgrades to the jumping Pattern in Ireland. These naturally form some of the key Limerick tips any followers of Irish horse racing will be interested in.
Is Limerick Races Today Flat or Jumps?
Although there is a little Flat racing taking place here, Limerick is first and foremost a jumps track. Horses race right-handed or clockwise on an undulating course with a steep climb down the back straight, then on the descent to the final bend.
The home straight is seen as an easy finish with the oval track about 11 furlongs round for a full lap. Limerick Racecourse stages Flat races on the Outer Hurdles track. This has six flights to jump on a complete circuit with four down the back and two more after turning for home.
There is also a tighter Inner Hurdles course. Horses jump one fewer obstacle on this track with three in the back and a couple before the winning post in the home straight. As for steeplechases, there are seven fences on a full lap of the course.
Five of these come in the back straight with the second and last in this line being open ditches. That leaves just two plain fences after completing the home turn before the line. Due to this configuration, Limerick races suit a jumping front runner, but it doesn’t mean they have easy races.
This is because of a manmade lake that acts a reservoir in the middle of the course. Its presence ensures a high water table in Greenmount Park, creating heavy going during the winter months. Indeed, the Christmas Festival is often run in more testing conditions than its counterpart at Leopardstown races just outside Dublin.
Key Limerick Racecourse Fixtures
By far and away the most important race days at this track are the four consecutive ones that form the Limerick Christmas Festival in December. More on those in a moment. While the Flat races from this venue are pretty low key, there’s jump racing to a much higher standard at different stages of the core National Hunt season.
Whether it’s Munster National Weekend in the autumn, also featuring two Listed Limerick races today come October, or their spring meeting with Grade 3s in March, this venue delivers. While it’s tough to compete with the spring festivals at bigger tracks on both sides of the Irish Sea like Cheltenham, Fairyhouse, Aintree or Punchestown, Greenmount Park punches above its weight.
Limerick Christmas Festival
The focus of most Limerick horse racing tips are the big races run here in-between Christmas and New Year. Starting on St Stephen’s Day, there are graded races taking place on 26, 27 and 28 December. The festive meeting then draws to a close with a Listed handicap hurdle on the fourth and final day of the fixture.
The ones to look out for are the Doran’s Pride Grade 2 Novice Hurdle, Dawn Run Grade 2 Novice Steeplechase for mares and Grade 1 Faugheen Novice Steeplechase on their respective race days. Not only do these provide alternative festive targets for Irish jumpers to Leopardstown, but they are becoming highlights in their own right.
Biggest Races We Have Limerick Tips for
It’s fair to say that Limerick prefers to focus on quality, rather than quantity during its meetings. In other words, you won’t find a plethora of Black Type races taking place at this track like other venues in Ireland. These are the feature contests to look out for throughout the calendar year…
Faugheen Novice Chase
Originally the Murphys Irish Stout Chase holding Listed status, this became a novice chase in 1994 when Imperial Call landed the spoils. After Greenpark Racecourse closed and following the switch of venues, it had the registered title of the Greenmount Park Novice Chase. Once established there, it soon earned Grade 2 status.
Promoted to a Grade 1 in 2018, Faugheen won it the following year defeating Samcro. This was an incredible feat as trainer Willie Mullins sent the talented but fragile horse chasing at the grand old age of 11. HRI decided to rename the race in Faugheen’s honour in 2020. The latest change to it is an increased distance to two miles and five furlongs for the 2025 edition.
Previously run over almost two-and-a-half miles, this is to encourage staying novice steeplechasers to run in the Grade 1 Faugheen race over Christmas instead. With a total prize fund of €100,000, it’s the most valuable of all Limerick races today. Sir Des Champs and Gaelic Warrior are other famous winners for Mullins, who has nine victories in it.
Thanks to the longer trip running here now entails, the best Limerick racing tips will factor in stamina. First prize is at least €59,000, meaning a win here rivals any purse available in Ireland for a novice chaser the other side of Christmas within the same season.
Munster National
As Limerick lies within the province of Munster, the area’s regional “National” takes place here in October. Unlike the Irish Grand National or English equivalent at Aintree Racecourse, this has a shorter distance of three miles. The Munster National has Grade 3 status with a total prize money of €94,000 up for grabs.
Some famous racehorses feature on the race’s recent roll of honour. They include Tiger Roll, who went on to land the Aintree Grand National twice, and Total Recall. The latter followed-up in the big Gold Cup at Newbury races becoming the first Irish-trained horse to do so in 37 years.
Seven-year-olds have a particularly good record in the Munster National, so Limerick tips today should bear that in mind. An older horse, French Dynamite, prevailed in 2025 and picked up €59,000 for winning the contest.
Limerick Handicap Hurdle
Currently the QuinnBet Handicap Hurdle, this Listed race over two miles on the final day of the Christmas Festival has age restrictions on it. Previously open to just four-year-olds and run as a conditions race with Grade 2 status as the Sporting Limerick Hurdle and Irish Independent Hurdle, small field sizes led to its reinvention as a handicap in 2023.
Now open to juvenile hurdlers (three-year-olds) as well since the change, Limerick race tips must consider carefully the weight for age they receive for the elder eligible horses. Subsequent Champion Hurdle and Stayers’ Hurdle winners Espoir D’Allen and Teahupoo landed this as youngsters. First prize in 2024 was €26,550.
Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase
A Listed handicap steeplechase over almost two-and-a-half miles on the third day of the Christmas Festival. Honouring Tim Duggan, Seabass is a notable winner of this contest, which has a ratings ceiling of 150 for competing horses. Stamina is a key aspect of successful Limerick races tips here because of the often testing conditions at the track during winter.
Although the Tim Duggan now plays second fiddle on the 28 December card to the Faugheen, useful types can still turn out in it. Winning this race came with €26,550 in prize money in 2024 when Dancing Jeremy proved successful. Favourites have a poor recent record, so that’s a trend to consider.
Martin Molony Stakes
This is the only Black Type race at Limerick on the Flat. Contested over an extended mile-and-a-half in June and open to horses aged three and up, it used to take place in the spring at the end of April or beginning of May until 2017. The problem with that original slot is the Martin Molony got rather lost in the shuffle because of the Punchestown Festival and Guineas Weekend at Newmarket races taking place at the same time.
A revised place in early summer paid dividends for Sonnyboyliston in 2021. Few Limerick horse tips could’ve known then that he would go on to land the Ebor Handicap at York Racecourse and the Group 1 Irish St Leger at the Curragh later in the year. First place in the Martin Molony, which honours a locally-born champion jockey of Ireland, was €26,550 in 2025.
Dawn Run Mares Novice Chase
Promoted to a Grade 2 in 2014, this steeplechase over two-and-three-quarter miles honours Dawn Run. She is the only horse in history to win the Champion Hurdle and Cheltenham Gold Cup in her career. Limerick Racecourse decided to move this race from March to the Christmas Festival in 2021, so two different mares enjoyed victories in different seasons but within the same calendar year.
Established in 2002, as the programme of females only races expanded in Ireland, the Dawn Run Mares Novices Chase has helped keep horses of that gender in training for longer. Proof, if needed, comes from the fact that the most common age for winners is seven. First prize in 2024 was €24,190.
Dorans Pride Novice Hurdle
Upgraded to Grade 2 status in 2015, this staying novice hurdle over almost three miles that takes place on the opening day of the Christmas Festival remembers Dorans Pride. A prolific winner as both a hurdler and a chaser, and trained by Michael Hourigan, he landed a record four editions of the Clonmel Oil Chase at Clonmel Racecourse in County Tipperary.
The right tips for Limerick today here must follow in the hoofprints of Cheltenham Festival winners like Faugheen, Martello Tower and Penhill. Willie Mullins has seven victories here, but Gordon Elliott has fared better recently with three successes since 2019. First prize in 2024 was €21,535.
Other Limerick Races Today of Note
Away from big handicap hurdles and chases, and the graded action over Christmas, Limerick has some other events of note. Just like the Dawn Run for female staying novice chasers, there’s the Grade 3 Shannon Spray Mares Novice Hurdle in the spring. Also enjoying the same status is the Hugh McMahon Memorial Novice Chase over three miles.
A Champion Bumper for four-year-olds also takes place here in March. That is a Listed contest, alongside two more hurdle races come October that form the chief supporting card of Munster National Weekend. These autumn events are the Cailin Alainn Mares Hurdle and Fergus O’Toole Memorial Novice Hurdle.
FAQs
Are Limerick races on today?
If there’s a meeting at Limerick today, then you’ll know because the latest tips from the track appear atop this page.
Where is Limerick Racecourse?
Since 2001, the racecourse nearest Limerick is at Greenmount Park. Its official address is Main Street, Patrickswell, Co. Limerick, V94 K858, Ireland.
Why give free Limerick tips?
Our Limerick racing tips today come free, because AI does all the hard work. Data-driven algorithms sift through trends, stats and form, which produces our selections, rather than a human tipster.
Where can I see Limerick races results?
Stick with Racing Tipster for all Limerick races today results once events on the track are over. We provide fast results, but also full ones once the jockeys have weighed in and it’s all official.
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