Punchestown

Location and History

Known as the home of Irish Jumps Racing, it’s one of the few Irish tracks that is solely used for jumps and not for flat racing, as well.

Punchestown Racecourse, nestled in the heart of County Kildare, Ireland, is synonymous with the history and evolution of Irish jump racing. Its origins can be traced back to the 1820s, when it emerged as the premier venue for steeplechasing in Ireland.

In the 1860s, fences and hurdles were first introduced and it wasn’t unusual for crowds of 40,000 or more to be present at meetings. None more so than when the then Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, fancied a day’s racing himself and paid a visit to the course in 1868.

Punchestown has since grown in stature and is now home to the renowned Punchestown Festival; a five-day racing extravaganza held annually in late April or early May.

In that regard, the English course it perhaps resembles the most is Cheltenham and, as we’ll soon see, there are plenty of similarities between the aforementioned Punchestown Irish National Hunt Festival and Cheltenham’s famous festival.

If travelling by car, Punchestown Racecourse is located in Naas, County Kildare, which is just 22 km south of Dublin. When driving from Dublin, take the N7 southbound. Exit at Junction 9 for Naas. Then, follow signs for Punchestown Racecourse.

Taxis are available from nearby Naas, just a 4.3km drive, while those travelling from Dublin city centre or the airport by taxi can expect the fare to be somewhere between 80 and 120 Euros.

If travelling by train, there isn't a train station at Punchestown as such. Instead, you can take a train to either Sallins or Naas, the nearest train stations to the racecourse. Irish Rail operates services to these stations and from there, you can take a taxi or a local shuttle bus during event days to get to the racecourse.

During the major race events, there are often special shuttle buses organised from various points, including Dublin, to transport race-goers directly to Punchestown.

However, for regular racing days outside the biggest events, you can take a bus to Naas town centre. From there, Punchestown is a short taxi ride away as we’ve seen already, or a somewhat longer walk.

Types of Racing at Punchestown and Notable Races

Punchestown is home to two separate courses: one for hurdles and one for steeplechasing. Both courses are right-handed, with the former being one mile six furlongs long and the latter being two miles.

In the words of former jockey Charlie Swan:

“Punchestown is a story of two tracks really. The chase track is brilliant, a proper Grade 1 track. The fences are stiff, but very fair. However, I never really got on well with the hurdle track. It’s very undulating, the downhill section after the winning post can also make life difficult. The bends are very tight, especially the second-last bend, and in reality, it is sharper than most people appreciate. Because of its nature, I’d much rather be handier than held up.”

Punchestown hosts 17 high-quality fixtures every year of which the highlight is, of course, the Punchestown Festival in April. The meeting has no fewer than 12 Grade 1 races with the Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle the pick of them. Others are the Champion Stayers Hurdle and the Ryanair Novice Chase, with all four races sharing the same name and similar distances as their Cheltenham counterparts.

Neptunes Collonges was a two-time winner of the Gold Cup here in 2007 and 2008, while French thoroughbred Clan des Obeaux won it in 2021.

Other notable races outside the Festival are the Morgiana Hurdle in November and the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown race in December. Both races often attract some of the bigger names in National Hunt racing, who want to get the season off to a good start.

Heroes at Punchestown

Let’s look at the trainers and jockeys who have taken a particular liking to this course over the years by winning time and time again or who have made the most of their few appearances there.

Top Trainers

• Two familiar names occupy the Top 2 spots for most wins here as a trainer. Willie Mullins has 40 winners here over the years from 141 horses sent out to run, which equates to a win percentage of 28%. Gordon Elliott is next best with 18 winners from 174 horses he’s been in charge of.
• Despite all those winners, if you’d backed all their horses at the Starting Price for level stakes, you’d be down on both of them. On the other hand, having backed M Brassil’s 17 mounts in the same way, would have yielded a positive ROI of 53% and doing so with S R B Crawford’s horses would see you up by 35%.

Top Jockeys

• Paul Townend certainly likes it around Punchestown. He’s won there on 24 occasions, an incredible win rate of 52% and has placed in 76% of his rides at the famous Irish course. The next best jockey for wins is miles off the pace of Townend, with D E Mullins winning eight times here.

Punchestown Trivia

• When the late talented Irish guitarist and singer Rory Gallagher performed here in 1982 in front of 16,000 people, it was U2 and Simple Minds who were supporting acts to Gallagher, rather than the other way round!
• During the 2023 Punchestown Festival which ran between Tuesday 25th April and Saturday 29th, over 110,000 attended, mostly from Ireland but also from the UK and other countries much further away.

For additional information about racecourses in Ireland, see our sports blog.