The Curragh Racecourse in County Kildare has played a central role in daily life on the unique 2,000 acres of the Curragh Plains for hundreds of years. The Curragh Plains are home to 1,000 racehorses in training, in stables located around three distinct training grounds.

The Curragh Racecourse is home to Ireland’s 5 most important flat races each year known collectively as the Classics. The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, first run in 1866, is run on the last Saturday in June each year. It is a major social as well as sporting occasion.

The Curragh Racecourse stage meetings take place from March to October each year. The Curragh Racecourse grandstand is a world-class facility with high comfort levels and where the overall customer experience remains the priority. Horse racing is the most social of sports and very family friendly. Children under 18 go free.

Horse racing and the thoroughbred horse have been a central part of the rich tapestry of the Curragh plains for centuries and the origins of place names indicates that the Curragh was a chosen location for horse racing going back thousands of years. The Curragh Plains have a breadth and depth of history equal to anywhere in Ireland. Whether your interest is in archelogy, military, farming, political and sporting history, the Curragh Plains has a fascinating story to tell and a journey through these stories explains how the tapestry of life and activity on the Curragh has thrived with a vibrancy from the earliest oral history right through to today.

The Curragh Racecourse is delighted to announce that they will soon take bookings for behind the scenes tours of the grandstand and enclosures. You will get to visit locations that are strictly off limits to the public on race days, such as the jockeys changing room, the weigh room and the VIP top floor balcony overlooking the Curragh Plains.