Killarney racecourse ranked ninth best in Ireland and Britain

A NEW study has revealed a strong finish for Killarney track in rankings of all 85 racecourses in Britain and Ireland, with the picturesque course being ranked ninth best.

Ascot has been ranked the best racecourse in the UK and Ireland, beating the likes of Cheltenham, Aintree and Leopardstown, according to a brand new study by bookmaker BoyleSports, who offer the latest Cheltenham Gold Cup odds.

The study also found that Killarney in was one of the highest ranked tracks across the racing sphere, finishing in an excellent ninth out of 85.

Cheltenham racecourse, which will welcome hundreds of thousands of racing fans to the Festival in March, only ranks eighth in the standings.

Six racecourses in Ireland make the top 10 in a study that assigned each track a score based on the key experiences that make up a good raceday.

BoyleSports created the weighted index, which gave each racecourse a score out of 100, which took into account each track’s average Google review, the cost of a Guinness, the number of big races, public transport links and its popularity according to Google searches.

Ascot performed best with a top score of 77.87, while Cheltenham’s score of 55.42 was

only enough to rank eighth.

Leopardstown, home of the popular Dublin Racing Festival, followed in second with a score of 66.44, the best of the Irish racecourses.

The Curragh was a close third at 64.12, followed by Newmarket (61.13) and Punchestown (59.46) to complete the top five.

Ballinrobe is sixth with a score of 56.96, ahead of York (56.84). Cheltenham comes next in eight, followed by Killarney (54.66) and Fairyhouse (53.81).

Limerick racecourse was ranked 19th, Listowel came in at no.29 followed by Cork racecourse at no.31. Methodology

TO create the index, each category was assigned a weighting which contributed to the overall score: average Google review - 40, big races - 30, Guinness cost - 20, public transport score - 5, popularity by Google searches - 5.

‘Big races’ are defined as a Grade 1, 2, 3, premier handicap or listed race. Racecourses without a listed or public cost of Guinness were assigned the average for the racecourses in the country (UK £6.15, IRE €5.69).

A qualitative score out of five was assigned to each racecourse to rate the public transport options, this considered frequency, choice and distance of available public transport options to get to the racecourse.