PUNCHESTOWN racing manager Richie Galway has worked at the track for close to three decades, but even he cannot remember a spell of dry and warm weather quite like this summer.

The home of the Punchestown Festival is among the many racecourses across Ireland to have been tested by an extraordinary run of conditions, with the country officially recording its hottest summer - and hottest season - since records began 127 years ago.

For a track preparing to welcome National Hunt racing back in just over a month, the arrival of a slightly damper outlook has therefore been particularly welcome, with Punchestown due to stage a mid-week double header featuring the Grade 3 Carvill’s Hill Chase and Grade 3 Buck House Novice Chase on October 13th and 14th.

A report from Met Éireann this week described summer 2026 as “exceptionally warm relative to climatological normals”, while it was statistically the 22nd driest summer on record since 1941.

“For as long as I’ve been here at Punchestown, I cannot remember a number of months like we’ve just had. Never,” Galway told The Irish Field.

“Obviously, we’re well set and well used to irrigating. It will be a challenge [ahead of our jumping fixtures in October], because there is a lack of moisture in the ground. We were delighted to see the rain arrive in recent days; we did need it.

“Given what we’ve had in the last week, and the fact that the weather forecast is a little more unsettled for now, I’d say every National Hunt track and trainer is feeling a bit happier.

Different challenge

“Normally, when we water in the spring, we’re irrigating on the back of a wet winter. We’re now irrigating on the back of a very, very dry summer. It’ll be a challenge, but the weather changing now makes it more manageable.

“You can get a very dry September, but I think the weather is obviously getting harder to predict.

“When you get your dry spells and wet periods is tougher to gauge nowadays.”

That view on unpredictability is backed up by the fact that six of Ireland’s 10 wettest summers since records began, and two of the 10 driest summers, have now occurred since 2001.

“We’ve seen photographs of tracks that have been burned up and we were all in a similar predicament,” Galway continued.

“I haven’t seen it as bad as I have seen it this summer, from my time at Punchestown. The only thing I will say is that the weather has a habit of levelling itself up over the course of the year.

“We’ve had dry Septembers and Octobers into November previously, but I can’t recall a spell like this leading into this time of year.”

Flat update

Punchestown is currently in the middle of its next chapter to develop a new flat track; a process ongoing for the past five years and expected to continue until 2030. One upside of the dry summer has been the chance for works to take place uninterrupted on the flat course in recent months.

“We’ve made a lot of progress on our flat track and we actually got it seeded this week,” Galway explained.

“The silver lining is that this summer really allowed us to get well on top of our work and get ahead. Everything has been done to schedule so far and there wasn’t a single day of work missed, which is unheard of in Ireland. We’ll take that positive out of it.

“The flat development is exciting for everyone. I think this will be the first season where when people come racing, or watch Punchestown on TV, it’ll be visible that there is tangible work ongoing. You couldn’t really see what work was going on across the far side of the hedge, but it’s now fully clear and people can get a look at what’s going on.”

Before its National Hunt return, Punchestown is set to stage a flat fixture on September 15th.