Fairyhouse Racecourse

The main business of Fairyhouse racecourse is betting on the races known traditionally in parts of Ireland as turf accountancy.

[1] The course was the training ground for l'Escargot, a winner of the Irish Grand National against famous racer Red Rum.

HRI viewed Dick Sheil as a tremendous asset to the course having brokered considerable sponsorship and managing many major meetings.

Fairyhouse General Manager Caroline Gray credits this sponsorship for making the Irish Grand National what it is today but the term is due to end in April 2010 and future sponsor is currently uncertain.

On a Sunday, when there are no race meetings, Fairyhouse opens as a market selling local produce ranging from saddlery and tools to fresh vegetables, arts and crafts products and even electrical goods.

From a place up high and distant is viewed a vast open field of grass, trodden bare and brown in places with little people dotted around like ants beside enormous tents, marquees, performance stages hosting deafening arrays of musical-event speakers. The horizon is low and far away and the sky is dotted with broken clouds.
Fairyhouse hosting the Witnness music festival in 2002