Enjoy a Day at Tramore Racecourse in Ireland

Loosely translated from Gaelic, Tramore literally means, Long Strand. For a notably extended part of its history, Tramore held its race events on a beach that had been purposely prepared for equestrian racing. The initial races to be documented at the facility were staged in 1785, largely due to the generous support of the neighbouring communities who comprised the local landed gentry. By mid-1807, the strand racing functions had gradually evolved into a six-day sporting festival. In order to maximise the attending crowds, this important meeting happened in the summer season – August in particular, and this is an age-old custom that is widely maintained right up to the current time. 

Despite the first success of the racing meeting, by mid-1888, the facilities, and frequency of the beach-based meetings had markedly declined, and it required the organising acumen of local property owner Martin J Murphy to regenerate the fortunes of the beleaguered Tramore Racecourse. Heading up a well-composed committee of local entrepreneur, he redesigned the beach amenities, and thus breathed new life into the once-in-a-year event. However, the continuing ravages of the raging sea were made worse by the singularly furious storms of 1911, and this occasioned severe losses and damages to the prized beach facilities.

After this fresh wave of misfortunes, Martin J Murphy once again chipped in to reinvigorate the wrecked infrastructure and generously provided his personal land on Graun Hill as a prospective site for the titivated racecourse. The racecourse’s sitting committee gladly welcomed the munificent offer, and as a result, the sporting venue has remained at this very site ever after. Despite this notable change of location, Tramore has not dwindled in terms of popularity and expert ratings but has steadily doubled its fame to rank among the very best Irish sporting grounds out there.

In the most recent days, Tramore has attained two footnotes in the racing history of the world. On the first day of January 2000, before a lively crowd of eleven thousand fans, the racecourse hosted the very first sporting competition of the eagerly awaited new millennium. The special racing event was aptly dubbed, “The Mean Fiddler Handicap Steeplechase”, and was famously won by a little-known horse with a memorably optimistic name of “No Problem”. Again, on the very first day of January 2002, Tramore made history as the first horse sporting arena to hold a race function using the then high-trending Euro as the standard of exchange. The decision to have the continent's symbolic currency feature in the New Year's fixtures was a well-informed deliberation that greatly popularised the events and the racecourse at the same time.

Often called Where Turf Meets Surf’, Tramore is a well-liked holiday site, and it provides lively vacationing crowds with a beautiful blend of seashore amusement and top-calibre racing action at the same time. Tramore holds eleven consecutive days of high-quality racing. The four-day summer race meeting that takes place every August entails three important evening events. Again, the two-day New Year sports meeting include the final day of the ending year and the very first day of the New Year. Further, there are also two-day racing functions that take place every April and May, and a one-day race every October.

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Contact details: Waterford & Tramore Racecourse, Graun Hill, Tramore, Co. Waterford, X91 XP29

Tel: 051 381425 

Email: racing@tramoreracecourse.ie 

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