The popular Co Meath venue is the home of the BoyleSports Irish Grand National, one of the biggest sporting events in the country, which is run on Easter Monday each year. The Irish Grand National is undoubtedly the jewel in the crown for the course, however before that there is the matter of the Winter Festival.

This weekend the course will play host to a major two days of racing. Today’s feature is the EasyFix Handicap Chase, a Grade B race over two miles and a furlong. Tomorrow, Sunday, sees a plethora of high-class races and all but one of the seven races is sponsored by Barney O’Hare’s Bar One Racing.

Three of the races are Grade 1s, all of which have attracted competitive fields, while the valuable Grade A handicap hurdle sees 20 go to post. Sunday’s fare sees a start time of 12.40pm and the card features some of the leading lights of the jump scene such as Vroum Vroum Mag, Apples Jade, Ivanovich Gorbatov, Alpha des Obeaux and Landofhopeandglory.

The manager of Fairyhouse is Peter Roe, a man steeped in the world of horseracing. While he is proud of the tracks’ history, he is keen to keep focused on the future. As part of that future he knows the racecourse has to keep improving and providing all its customers with the best facilities it can.

Currently the racecourse is going out to tender for the next stage of the HRI Racecourse Capital Grant scheme for a project which includes a new medical building , refurbishment of the existing grooms toilet facilities and headlined by an exciting new turnstile development.

“These are exciting times for Fairyhouse and these latest developments, partly financed under the Horse Racing Ireland Racecourse Capital Development Fund, will help improve the customer experience for everyone who attends the racecourse,” said Roe.

Fairyhouse is an important part of the community with a number of local sporting groups including Meath GAA and Ratoath GAA hold annual race day fundraisers at the track. The influx of business to the surrounding towns during the Winter and Easter Festivals is also key to the tracks position in the community. “We are always looking for ways to integrate more with the community and we have some exciting plans in place for next year’s Easter Festival to improve on this” says David O’Connor, sales and marketing manager at the track.

O’Connor added “We also run a schools day where local school kids are invited to the track for an insight into how things work. They get to meet the course and track managers, a local trainer, a local jockey and even get to ride the racing simulator. We have had over 500 local school children join us for these days in the past couple of years and it is great to see the enthusiasm they bring.”

The first Irish Grand National was run in 1870 and the record for number of wins in the race still remains with Tom Dreaper, who saddled 10 winners of the race, famously winning it seven years in succession between 1960 and 1966. Next year’s race, on Easter Monday, April 17th, will have a record prize fund of €500,000.

Fairyhouse is the busiest track during the winter months and stages on average nine meetings from November to January. The track is a right-handed and relatively flat, though the three-furlong run-in is slightly uphill, a fair test of any horse. Hurdlers have to contend with seven obstacles on each circuit, while the chasers face 11 fences, with an extra fence being added for the Irish Grand National. Fairyhouse has also developed their inside track which hosts five meetings per year and is highly regarded by many trainers.