On Course Profits Tour of Irish Racecourses – Killarney

Probably the most picturesque racecourse in Britain & Ireland

Having missed last month, the OCP tour of Irish Racecourses returns with a look at Killarney racecourse.

As before, I will begin by looking briefly at the track’s location, history, configuration before highlighting some significant track stats.

History and Location

Killarney racecourse is located just 1km from the town of Killarney, in the county of Kerry. It’s considered by many to be the beautifully situated racecourses in Britain & Ireland. Surrounded by lakes & mountains next to the River Flesk. You can see why it’s such a popular holiday destination. It’s a racecourse that’s certainly on my ‘bucket list’ to visit when this Covid-19 crisis ends.

Horse racing has been taken place in the area since the early part of the 19^th Century and continued at various sites until 1901. For the next 35-years there was no racing in Killarney but the sport returned at its present site in 1936.

Since its opening Killarney racecourse has been a steadily thriving racecourse although nearby Tralee had to close its gates in August 2008 after years of declining crowds.

The course stages both flat and National Hunt racing but only races eleven days a year. Those fixtures are three-day meeting in May, the four-day Killarney Festival in July, and a four-day meeting in August.

The racecourse is walkable from the centre of the town and is easily accessible from most parts of Ireland by car.

For those going to the racecourse by public transport there is a regular train service from Dublin Heuston railway station which takes just over three hours.

There are also buses from Cork, Dublin and Limerick to Killarney bus station which is just half a mile from the racecourse.

Track Configuration

The course is a left-handed oval, of about one mile and two furlongs in circumference and the home straight is three furlongs in length. The track is sharp and mostly flat in nature.

Flat Course

https://images.racingpost.com/course_maps/large/killarney(ire).jpg

There are no sprint races at Killarney and all races at the track are a mile and longer. It’s mostly a fair track.

A low draw can be helpful and you don’t want to be too far off the pace, as it can be tricky to make up too much ground.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a draw bias although an extremely wide draw in particularly large fields is a bit of a disadvantage.

Hurdle Course

https://images.racingpost.com/course_maps/large/killarney(ire)h.jpg

There are six flights, on this sharp hurdle course with a run in of a furlong after the last flight.

Chase Course

https://images.racingpost.com/course_maps/large/killarney(ire)ch.jpg

There are six fences to jump on the chase course. The fences are not very demanding but three of those six fences come in the 3f run to the finishing line. So, it’s important that a horse is in a good jumping rhythm coming to these obstacles as poor jumping can be race ending at this point. The run in after the last is about a furlong long.

It’s worth noting that the course doesn’t drain very well and it’s best to know the going just prior to a race, as heavy rain can quickly change the ground from good to firm to soft.

Killarney Key Stats

Let’s begin by looking at some general stats at the racecourse including clear favourites, winning odds and wins at the track.

Once again, I am using the ever reliable www.horseracebase.com for the stats. The stats below are from Jan 1st, 2015 to the time of writing (07/07/20). Let’s begin by looking at the flat.

Flat

The results below contain 206 winners from 4003 runners 545 placed

Favourites:

Clear favourites have produced the following set of results:

68 winners from 191 runners 36% -5.27 A/E 0.91 118 placed 62%

Breaking those results down into handicap & non-handicap races gives us:

Non-handicaps – 40 winners from 99 runners 40% -9.84 A/E 0.83 68 placed 69%
Handicaps – 28 winners from 92 runners 30% +4.57 A/E 1.06 50 placed 54%

Summary: I was a bit surprised to see how well handicap clear favourites have done on the flat at the course.

Indeed, you can improve that profit by focusing on those qualifiers that were having their first run at Killarney as they produced 22 winners from 65 runners 34% +15.96 37 placed 57% and performed 17% better than market expectations. Which is very good news for favourite backers!

General Stats:

1. Odds SP: 12/1 & above

23 winners from 961 runners 2% -540 A/E 0.54 112 placed 12%

Summary: Runners sent off 12/1 & under are favoured.

Yes, there are big priced winners to be found here but as at most tracks the pool is a small one to be fishing in and they don’t offer much in the way of value either.

2. Wins at Track: 1+

18 winners from 126 runners 14% +32.69 A/E 0.95 49 placed 39%

Summary: Given that the flat track is fair in nature you wouldn’t expect too many previous course winners but they have been profitable to back over the period under research and clearly some trainers do lay out horses for the meetings here.

National Hunt

Now switching to the jumps.

The results below contain 237 winners from 2505 runners 651 placed

Favourites:

Clear favourites have produced the following set of results:

83 runners from 219 runners 38% -0.03 A/E 0.97 138 placed 63%

Breaking those results down into handicap & non-handicap races gives us:

Non-handicaps – 57 winners from 136 runners 42% -7.3 A/E 0.91 89 placed 65%
Handicaps – 26 winners from 83 runners 31% +7.27 A/E 1.16 49 placed 59%

Summary: Like their flat counterparts, handicap favourites over jumps have been surprisingly profitable to back. And if you ignore last time out winners you can improve their record further – 22 winners from 59 runners 37% +15.89 39 placed 66% with such qualifiers performing 43% better than market expectations.

General Stats:

Odds SP: 12/1 & above

35 winners from 1339 runners 3% -6.88 A/E 0.62 157 placed 12%

Summary: Those runners sent off 12/1 & bigger are performing a bit better than their flat counterparts but big priced winners don’t pop up very often.