Leopardstown Racecourse: Christmas, the DRF and Champions Weekend

Leopardstown is the Dublin racecourse about 8 km south of the city centre, and it hosts three of the biggest occasions in Irish racing: the Christmas Festival from St Stephen's Day, the Dublin Racing Festival in February and the Saturday of the Irish Champions Festival in September. Today's Leopardstown card, when there is one, is in the feed below.

Leopardstown today: the card

Racing wire

Meetings are posted here each morning from the official fixture list.

On racing days the feed carries the Leopardstown racecards, our view of each race and results as they are confirmed. The going is set by the course and can change on the day, so take it from the card rather than from a preview written earlier in the week. For every other Irish meeting, use the full racecards.

Leopardstown racecourse: one track, two codes

Leopardstown races on the Flat and over jumps, and the course was modelled on Sandown Park in England. That mixed use is why the same track can host a Group 1 on the Flat in September and a three-mile Grade 1 chase at Christmas. Course form at Leopardstown therefore has to be read code by code: a Flat record here says nothing about its chances over hurdles on the same ground.

The Christmas Festival from St Stephen's Day

The Christmas meeting runs for four days starting on St Stephen's Day. One listing gives the 2026 dates as Saturday 26 to Tuesday 29 December, which would put Leopardstown 27th December on the second day.

Its headline race is the Savills Chase, a Grade 1 over about 3m 0.5f with 17 fences, for horses aged five and up, sponsored by Savills since 2018. The Christmas Hurdle, the December Hurdle and several novice Grade 1s complete the top tier. The day each race falls on has changed between years, so we do not fix one here; the card settles it.

The Dublin Racing Festival in February

The DRF is two days on the first weekend of February, recent examples being 3-4 February 2024 and 1-2 February 2025. Its two championship races are the Irish Gold Cup, a Grade 1 chase first run in 1987 and sponsored by Paddy Power since 2020, and the Irish Champion Hurdle, also Grade 1.

For punters the DRF matters beyond its own prizes. It is the last big Irish meeting before Cheltenham, so the form from Leopardstown in February feeds straight into the markets for the Cheltenham Festival in March.

Irish Champions Festival: Leopardstown in September

The Flat has its turn on the Saturday of the Irish Champions Festival, which in 2026 fell on 12 September, with the Curragh racing on the Sunday. Leopardstown's feature is the Irish Champion Stakes, a Group 1. The Matron Stakes and the Golden Fleece Stakes, both Group 1, are also run at the course in September. Champions Weekend is the usual shorthand for the two days together.

Four days in a row: reading the Christmas cards

A four-day meeting asks questions a single fixture does not. Some horses run twice in the week, and a second run within days of the first is a different proposition from a fresh one. Winter ground at Leopardstown can soften as the meeting goes on, so a horse that only shows its form on a sound surface may have had its chance on day one and none by day four.

Then there is the calendar. Many of the better jumpers run here with Dublin in February and Cheltenham in March still to come. A trainer may be happy with a solid run rather than a hard-fought win. The form book will not say so, but the gap between Christmas and the next target is worth looking up.

Small fields, short prices and place terms

Grade 1 and Group 1 races do not always draw big fields, and that changes the each-way sums. With five to seven runners the standard terms are two places at 1/4 of the odds; with four or fewer runners there is no place part at all, so an each-way bet is effectively a win bet at double the stake.

Two examples. EUR 20 on a 4/6 favourite returns EUR 33.33 if it wins, a profit of EUR 13.33, smaller than the stake as with any odds-on price. EUR 5 each-way on a 6/1 shot in a seven-runner race, EUR 10 in all, that finishes second: the win half loses and the place half is settled at 6/4, returning EUR 12.50. Our fractional odds guide works through more.

Bookmakers for Leopardstown

Each firm on the card holds a GRAI remote betting licence, which every online bookmaker taking bets from Irish customers has needed since 1 July 2026, and each covers Irish racing. A GRAI licence is for betting; casinos attached to the same brands run under licences from other jurisdictions. The licensing page explains the register.

No.	Runner	Form	Licence	Verdict	Links
1	Paddy PowerPPB Counterparty Services Limited	1-1-2-2-3	GRAI licence (betting)	NAP	Visit
2	bet365Hillside (Europe) ENC	1-1-2-2-3	GRAI licence (betting)	NAP	Visit
3	BetfairPPB Counterparty Services Limited	1-1-4-4-4	GRAI licence (betting)	NAP	Visit
4	CoralElectraWorks Limited	1-2-4-4-4	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit
5	Bar One RacingBar-One Racing Limited	1-3-5-5-5	GRAI licence (betting)	Each-way	Visit

Form reads licence, markets, payments, safer-play tools, terms; 1 is best. How we rate. 18+ only.

Christmas racing comes at the time of year when spending is already stretched. Betting is for adults, 18+, and our safer gambling notes cover deposit limits and time-outs if the festival starts costing more than it should.