If you thought the Cheltenham Festival was the place to go for a good time, then you’ve clearly never been to Leopardstown. The Dublin Racing Festival treats you to action just as good as you’ll get at Cheltenham in March, but with a warm Irish welcome and Dublin City Centre just a few miles down the road, it might even be better.
- Don’t arrive early - Much like football fans on an away day, the Irish way of going racing is to get there just as the horses are going down for the first. For many traveling over from the UK, that means you don’t need an early flight time, instead get across to Dublin for mid-morning and enjoy a breakfast in the city. Apparently a pint of Guinness is equivalent to 9.5 slices of bread, so that beats a few slices of jam on toast.
- Pick up some Leopardstown merch - Early February in Dublin means an average temperature of around five degrees. Those kinds of conditions call for a nice hat and the Leopardstown merchandise stall will have you covered with a nice wooly number. Pick one up when you arrive, they’re normally not much more than €15 and will serve you well on future winter racedays.
- Your First Bet of the Day – Let’s be honest we’re looking to back a winner or two throughout the course of the weekend, and with plenty of traditional bookies clamouring for our attention the first bet or bets of the day should be about shopping around for that value. No doubt they’ll be a whole host of Willie Mullins shorties that you’ll want to get stuck into, so take advantage of the price boosts on singles and multiples before you even arrive at the track.
- Best seat in the house - The beauty of Leopardstown is that it’s compact, so you can easily navigate between checking out the horses in the parade ring and then getting a place to watch the race out the front. Getting from one side of the stands to the other tends to be fairly straightforward, even on a busy day, so as soon as the bell goes for jockeys to mount, get your bet on. That’s unless you have a gym membership for the on-course sports club. The entrance crosses where the horses go out onto the track and the treadmills face out onto the finishing line. They're probably the best seats in the house if you can cope with an afternoon of running and punting that is!
- Best Race 2 Race Bet – If you’re looking for the place to bet on course then look no further than the Tote. We've got a huge outlet on the bottom floor of the Grandstand as well as Vinnie, the Tote’s VW Campervan that you can bet with. Offering the Tote Guarantee, you’ll get paid SP or the Tote payout, whichever is bigger, so you know you’re in safe hands.
- Best place to eat & drink - There’s no two ways about it, Leopardstown serves the best food you’ll eat on a racecourse and you’ll find that on the first floor of the Grandstand. The Paddock Food Hall serves carvery roasts to rival any Toby Carvery and we’re talking a selection of meats, trimmings and a good old serving of gravy. It’s not to be missed. On the drinking front, Hurricane’s, affectionately named after Hurricane Fly is an experience unlike no other. Located under the ‘tunnel’ of the Grandstand and Racing Hall, Hurricane’s Bar is the cosy Irish pub you’ve always wanted to visit and the Guinness is spot on as well. There'll be plenty in here after racing, so make sure you have one for the road.
- Where’s the after party? - The racecourse itself does a great job of keeping the party going into the night with DJ’s and musicians keeping the place rocking to well after dark, especially on Sunday as it’s a bank holiday weekend for the Irish. If that’s not your thing, the legendary Goat Bar and Grill is just down the road and will be a who’s who of the sport after racing. If you’ve won a few quid and want to revinvest, there’s always the dogs at Shelbourne Park on the Saturday night, just at the side of the Aviva Stadium.
