The biggest week of the North Kerry year has a date and a programme: the 168th Listowel Harvest Racing Festival runs from Sunday, September 20 to Saturday, September 26, bringing seven days of National Hunt and Flat racing to the racecourse on the Island, right beside the town centre. For guests staying at 59 William Street, our townhouse in the middle of Listowel, the races are a stroll away, and race week books out early.
The festival opens gently on Sunday with Kinisla Family Day: cartoon characters, alpacas, face painting, bouncy castles and a mini disco alongside the EUR 45,000 Kinisla Handicap Steeplechase. The week builds to Wednesday, the principal racing day, when the EUR 200,000 Guinness Kerry National Handicap Steeplechase takes centre stage. Spanish Harlem, trained by Willie Mullins, took it last year, and Listowel graduates have a habit of going on to bigger things: last year's alumni later won at Cheltenham and Royal Ascot.
Thursday brings the Best Dressed Man competition, Friday is McElligotts Kia Ladies Day with a week in Sorrento for the Best Dressed Lady, and Saturday closes the festival with the Sustainable Style Competition, now in its 15th year, run by Listowel Tidy Towns with An Taisce. Music runs all week, with Big Jim, The Galivanters and Marty Guilfoyle among the acts, and TG4 broadcasts live from Monday to Saturday.
Admission is EUR 20 from Sunday to Tuesday and EUR 30 from Wednesday to Saturday, with cheaper advance tickets online, a EUR 145 seven-day ticket and group discounts for 20 or more. Full details are at listowelraces.ie.