Killarney Course Guide

A left-handed oval of just over nine furlongs. It is a sharp track with the first bend after the winning post being particularly tight. There are no races at a mile or less.

A very fair track in the main. A low draw is a help, but the straights are good and long and you generally have plenty of time to get in and take a position. It can be a bit tricky to make up ground there, as the track edges ever so slightly left all the way down the straight. The bend away from the stands is plenty tight and riders need to present their horses to it well, as blowing it can cost quite a bit of ground.

View from the saddle: Mick Kinane

An undulating, left-handed oval track with a circuit of around nine and a half furlongs in extent. It is sharp in character, with the turn after the winning post being particularly tight. There are six fences to a circuit of the chase course, with three in the dog-legged home straight of under three furlongs. The run-in is around a furlong.

Killarney is grand type of track. The bends are quite sharp, particularly the one away from the stands, but the straights are good and long which balances it out well and I never felt there was a particular positional bias there. The fences were always very nice and inviting. The ground can get very soft very quickly and it’s rare enough to get a meeting in between testing and quick.

View from the saddle: Charlie Swan