New Year’s Day Races Guide – All 1 January Fixtures in the UK & Ireland

Horses have plenty of New Year’s Day races that their owners and trainers may aim that at on 1 January. There are race meetings happening right across the British Isles both in the UK and Ireland. This is our guide to them.

New Year’s Day Horse Racing Fixtures in the British Isles

With nine New Year’s Day horse racing meetings in the UK and Ireland on 1 January, it’s clearly a busy day. There is quality racing action in England, Scotland and the Emerald Isle across these fixtures, which are largely from the National Hunt code over jumps as follows:

• Catterick Racecourse (Jumps), North Yorkshire
• Cheltenham Racecourse (Jumps), Gloucestershire
• Exeter Racecourse (Jumps), Devon
• Fairyhouse Racecourse (Jumps), County Meath, Ireland
• Fakenham Racecourse (Jumps), Norfolk
• Musselburgh Racecourse (Jumps), Edinburgh, Scotland
• Newcastle Racecourse (All-Weather Racing), Gosforth Park, Tyne And Wear
• Southwell Racecourse (Jumps), Nottinghamshire
• Tramore Racecourse (Jumps), County Waterford, Ireland

Here at RacingTipster, you can find New Year’s Day horse racing tips for all of these meetings. We start as we mean to go on, so there’s AI-generated selections for every day of the calendar year when there is horse racing in the British Isles.

Cheltenham New Year’s Day Races in More Detail

The most competitive races on 1 January are at Cheltenham. In recent years, the race programme has changed here with the discontinuation of the Dipper Novices’ Chase. The feature race on today’s racecard is the Grade 2 Relkeel Hurdle, supported by excellent racing in the form of several handicaps over hurdles and fences.

These include the New Year’s Day Handicap Chase, a Premier Handicap that fits into a programme of two-and-a-half mile steeplechases at the track. This follows on from the Paddy Power Gold Cup and December Gold Cup before Christmas. The horse racing results of those events shape the betting here.

A card of fine Cheltenham races on New Year’s Day also include an age restricted Junior Bumper. Unlike other events on 1 January, there are no obstacles for these younger horses to jump. The table below contains information about all the New Year’s Day races at Cheltenham on the schedule:

New Year’s Day Races at Exeter in More Detail

Down in Devon, another Jockey Club Racecourse has a 1 January card. The  Exeter races on New Year’s Day are a low key afternoon racing event compared to Cheltenham. The events are Class 4 and Class 5, so it’s lower grade action.

Musselburgh New Year’s Day Races in More Detail

There is something unique about Musselburgh races on New Year’s Day in Scotland. The entire day of racing at the track outside Edinburgh has events named after things related to 1 January. Intrigued punters can check out horse racing odds for Musselburgh Racecourse from the night before.

No other New Year’s Day horse racing fixtures embrace the date quite like this card. It’s largely comprised of handicaps, but successful horses may return to the track for the Scottish Trials Weekend a month later at the start of February. This table has more about the horse racing on New Year’s Day at Musselburgh with info about the entire card:

New Year’s Day Racing in Ireland

It’s not just UK courses where 1 January is an important day in the horse racing calendar. Ireland hosts two jumps meetings with black type races at each venue. Fairyhouse has the John & Chich Fowler Memorial Mares Chase as its biggest race on the card.

At Tramore, meanwhile, the Savills New Year’s Day Chase (Registered as the Metal Man Chase) headlines the card. The latter was often used by Al Boum Photo as a prep race for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, who won on 1 January in four consecutive years.

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