LEADING local trainer Enda Bolger is a huge fan of Limerick Racecourse, which from St Stephen’s Day through to December 29 will host the Mr Binman Christmas Racing Festival.
The outing boasts prize money of a whopping €600,000, while off-track there is plenty on offer at Greenmount Park (Patrickswell) in terms of festive hospitality.
“Limerick racecourse was always the place to be on St Stephen’s Day. There was always a great atmosphere there, at the old track and now at the new track. It’s a real sporting and social occasion – everybody goes,” Bolger said at the launch of the festival at his gallops and stables at Howardstown House, Bruree.
“There is a depth to the meeting now too. Four days and something for everybody. There is a race for every horse, from a 0-95 handicap to a Grade 1 race, from three-year-old hurdles to hunters’ chases. Every horse is catered for.”
“It’s a really good track now too. It took a little while to settle in, but it has matured nicely. You get soft ground during the winter, which is what you want for National Hunt horses, and they have lots of ground. A lot of people say that it’s an easy track, but you get to the top of the hill and you go for home, it’s a long way from there to the winning line. And there is a lot of jumping down the back straight. The best horse in the race usually wins, and good horses win there. I went past the track the other day and it looks great.”
“There’s a great buzz around for the Christmas Festival, and local trainers can do very well there,” concluded Bolger, who runs Mica Malpic in the Tim Duggan Memmorial Handicap Chase.
More information on this year’s festival on LimerickRaces.ie.
