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Magic Moments at Fairyhouse Winter Festival
Wednesday, 03 December 2025
Jack Kennedy, Erika Peciulyte and Teahupoo are welcomed back into the winners enclosure after winning the Grade 1 Bar One Betting Hatton's Grace Hurdle
This year’s Fairyhouse Winter Festival saw the County Meath venue alive with activity, and great sporting moments across two magical days last Saturday and Sunday.
The racing action kept racegoers enthralled with a number of nail biting finishes, including the Bar One Betting Grade 1 Hatton's Grace Hurdle where Teahupoo just held off Ballyburn to land his third Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle. The impressive Romeo Coolio collected in the Bar One Betting Grade 1 Drinmore Novice Chase. Both horses part of a four time for Gordon Elliott on the day (6 winners over the entire festival).
It was a weekend of impressive numerical achievements with Jack Kennedy securing his 50th Grade 1 winner aboard Romeo Coolio and Patrick Mullins, Ireland's champion amateur, riding the 900th winner of his career on Saturday’s card aboard Jimmy Du Seuil in the SIS Beginners Chase to kick off the festival.
Attendance was up both days of the festival, with an attendance of 11,117 over the weekend (a 6% increase on last year’s festival). With the Sunday itself up 8% on the same day last year.
Fairyhouse put huge emphasis on the customer experience with many new additions to be experienced by racegoers. Most notably a new Fan Zone on the Sunday where Rachael Blackmore was the headliner for a book signing of her children’s book ‘Granny National’. The former Grand National winning jockey stood for almost two hours signing her book and standing for photos with a huge volume of fans, of all ages. Irish National Hunt Champion Jockey Paul Townend and the UK’s Harry Cobden were also popular additions to the fan zone where they signed for over half an hour. Meath GAA players including All Star Sean Rafferty were also on hand to meet and greet their fans in the fan zone on the day too, the players were in attendance on the day for the annual Meath GAA Raceday.
Other enhancements to this year’s festival included a select number of golden tickets in racecards where racegoers had the chance to win prizes, an engaging best turned out competition where racegoers could scan a QR code and get involved in picking their selection for best turned out horse in each race. Hundreds of hot ciders were given out to attendees coming through the turnstiles both days and Santa was on hand with goodies on the Sunday, with the warmth of welcome something Fairyhouse put significant emphasis on.
Furthermore, there was an evident local feel to the festival, with local lady Aisling O’Reilly (from Porterstown Lane), an established sports broadcaster, on the roaming microphone on the Sunday bringing the raceday to life across the screens at the track with special interviews and behind the scenes insights. In addition to this, local musicians Ten Strings Music and The Sandmen provided musical entertainment from gates opening right to the end of the day on the Sunday, with Irish Folk/Trad band Wolfhound playing out the day on Saturday to a humming marquee.
Fairyhouse General Manager John Sheridan said, “This year's Winter Festival was a huge success. There was fantastic racing with some incredible finishes. The attendance numbers were very strong and there was a brilliant atmosphere. On behalf of the whole team at Fairyhouse, I want to thank all those who attended the Winter Festival and making it what it was."
The racing action kept racegoers enthralled with a number of nail biting finishes, including the Bar One Betting Grade 1 Hatton's Grace Hurdle where Teahupoo just held off Ballyburn to land his third Bar One Racing Hatton’s Grace Hurdle. The impressive Romeo Coolio collected in the Bar One Betting Grade 1 Drinmore Novice Chase. Both horses part of a four time for Gordon Elliott on the day (6 winners over the entire festival).
It was a weekend of impressive numerical achievements with Jack Kennedy securing his 50th Grade 1 winner aboard Romeo Coolio and Patrick Mullins, Ireland's champion amateur, riding the 900th winner of his career on Saturday’s card aboard Jimmy Du Seuil in the SIS Beginners Chase to kick off the festival.
Attendance was up both days of the festival, with an attendance of 11,117 over the weekend (a 6% increase on last year’s festival). With the Sunday itself up 8% on the same day last year.
Fairyhouse put huge emphasis on the customer experience with many new additions to be experienced by racegoers. Most notably a new Fan Zone on the Sunday where Rachael Blackmore was the headliner for a book signing of her children’s book ‘Granny National’. The former Grand National winning jockey stood for almost two hours signing her book and standing for photos with a huge volume of fans, of all ages. Irish National Hunt Champion Jockey Paul Townend and the UK’s Harry Cobden were also popular additions to the fan zone where they signed for over half an hour. Meath GAA players including All Star Sean Rafferty were also on hand to meet and greet their fans in the fan zone on the day too, the players were in attendance on the day for the annual Meath GAA Raceday.
Other enhancements to this year’s festival included a select number of golden tickets in racecards where racegoers had the chance to win prizes, an engaging best turned out competition where racegoers could scan a QR code and get involved in picking their selection for best turned out horse in each race. Hundreds of hot ciders were given out to attendees coming through the turnstiles both days and Santa was on hand with goodies on the Sunday, with the warmth of welcome something Fairyhouse put significant emphasis on.
Furthermore, there was an evident local feel to the festival, with local lady Aisling O’Reilly (from Porterstown Lane), an established sports broadcaster, on the roaming microphone on the Sunday bringing the raceday to life across the screens at the track with special interviews and behind the scenes insights. In addition to this, local musicians Ten Strings Music and The Sandmen provided musical entertainment from gates opening right to the end of the day on the Sunday, with Irish Folk/Trad band Wolfhound playing out the day on Saturday to a humming marquee.
Fairyhouse General Manager John Sheridan said, “This year's Winter Festival was a huge success. There was fantastic racing with some incredible finishes. The attendance numbers were very strong and there was a brilliant atmosphere. On behalf of the whole team at Fairyhouse, I want to thank all those who attended the Winter Festival and making it what it was."