John Meagher Memorial Chase

The John Meagher Memorial Chase is a Listed National Hunt steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older.

It is run at Thurles over a distance of about 2 miles and 6 furlongs (4,426 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in November.

It was renamed in 2011 in memory of John Meagher, a great supporter of Thurles, who had one of his biggest days there when Monanore, which he also bred, landed the prestigious Molony Cup when trained by his great friend Billy Harney.

A keen amateur rider in his younger days, Meagher was nicknamed ‘Bougoure’ after the legendary Australian jockey Garnet Bougoure, who was attached to the Vincent O'Brien and Paddy Prendergast yards in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

[1] Since 2015 it has been sponsored by the Boomerang Horse & Country Store.