HORSE racing fans will be descending on Leopardstown for its annual Dublin Racing Festival this weekend.
The Dublin 18 showcase continues to grow in popularity and prize money year on year.
Saturday’s race card in full[/caption]
Gates on Sunday will open at 10.40am as opposed to 11am on Saturday[/caption]
As usual the highlight of the two-day meet will be the Irish Gold Cup where Galopin Des Champs will be looking to make it a hat-trick of victories.
Here’s everything you need to know whether you’re looking to attend in person or follow along from the couch?
Dublin Racing Festival 2025 dates:
The action will all take place across Saturday and Sunday, February 1-2.
There’ll be seven races on Saturday, headed by the Irish Gold Cup at 3.30pm.
Sunday’s race card will feature the Irish Champion Hurdle at 3.20pm.
In total, there’ll eight Grade 1 contests over the weekend.
What TV channel is the Dublin Racing Festival on?
RTE will be showing the bulk of it each day in spite of it clashing with Ireland’s opening match in the Six Nations on Saturday.
RTE One will pick up the action from 1pm on Day One and stay with it until 4pm.
On Sunday it’ll be shown on RTE Two for that same stretch of the afternoon.
You’ll obviously have the option of streaming it via the RTE Player.
But in addition to that, Racing TV are offering a free month’s trial which will allow you to watch every single race.
Ticket prices:
General admission tickets are still available via leopardstown.com.
An adult day pass will set you back €45 while it’s €35 for seniors and students.
The kids version is €5 for those aged 13-17 while it’s free for anyone younger.
Weekend tickets are set at €75 with it remaining at €10 for those in the 13-17 bracket and free for the real youngsters.
Mullins family drama
Speaking the DRF and all things family, Willie Mullins provided some drama on the eve of the whole thing getting under way.
The Closutton boss decided on a jaw-dropping last-minute rider switch that saw his son Patrick kicked off a huge ride.
Trainers had to confirm their jockeys for Sunday’s action by Friday’s noon deadline.
Minutes before that, Mullins had put son Patrick on Rich Ricci’s awesome grey mare Lossiemouth for the Irish Champion Hurdle, for which she is odds-on fav.
This came after it was confirmed Paul Townend would ride State Man.
That meant Willie’s nephew Danny was given the ride on Daddy Long Legs – until Danny was then mysteriously booked for both Daddy Long Legs and Lossiemouth.
With just seconds to go until the deadline, though, Willie performed a dramatic U-turn.
Amateur rider Patrick’s name now appeared next to Winter Fog, who Rachael Blackmore’s boyfriend Brian Hayes had originally been booked to ride.
While Sean O’Keeffe was the jockey tasked with riding outsider Daddy Long Legs.
The astonishing late switch-up means Danny will have a huge shot at Grade 1 glory on Ricci’s 8-13 fav.
Townend will hope the defending Champion Hurdle king can defy 13-8 odds after flopping completely at Christmas.
While Patrick goes from the ride on the odds-on jolly to steering unfancied 16-1 chance Winter Fog.
