Roscommon Racecourse is a horse racing venue located in

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who bui ...

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, approximately 76 km north east of

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city ...

and 136 km west of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. The course holds both flat and jump racing. Racing unofficially commenced in 1837, with the first official contests occurring in 1885. Apart from a 12-year hiatus between 1936 and 1948 racing has continued ever since. The feature race of the year at Roscommon is the €40,000 2 mile Grade 3 Kilbegnet Novice Chase, run at the end of September. The 1994 renewal saw top 2 mile chaser Sound Man beat Shawiya with subsequent Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Imperial Call back in third. The 2018 renewal was also strong. It was won by Ornua who went on to win the Grade 1 Doom Bar Maghull Novices Chase at Aintree from Cadmium who went on to win the Topham Trophy over the National fences also at Aintree. The course's most prestigious flat race is the Lenebane Stakes. There are nine meetings per year, all between May and September, and are run on either a Monday or a Tuesday. The course is right-handed of about 1 mile 2 furlongs in length with an incline on approach to the winning post. There has been considerable investment in the last couple of years with an upgrade in facilities including stables, bars and entrance turnstiles. After the last meeting of 2018 the existing weighing room facility was demolished and replaced by a modern new building which will be formally opened on the first day of the new racing season in Roscommon on Monday May 13, 2019.

Notable races

References

{{Coord, 53, 38, 44.48, N, 8, 13, 19.63, W, scale:25000_type:landmark_region:IE, display=title Horse racing venues in the Republic of Ireland Sports venues in County Roscommon Sports venues completed in 1837 Roscommon (town)