Down Royal betting with William Hill

Down Royal near Lisburn in Northern Ireland stages flat and jumps racing throughout the year. The main Down Royal betting races are the Champion Chase and the Ulster Derby.

The Champion Chase is the highlight of the two-day November meeting, which features four graded races. Notable Down Royal winners include Kauto Star, Moscow Flyer, Beef Or Salmon and Media Puzzle.

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Betting at Down Royal – The Big Meetings

Down Royal stages the Northern Ireland Festival of Racing in November, which features the Grade 1 Champion Chase.

They also race on the flat here in the summer, with the Ulster Derby taking place in June. The same card features the Ulster Oaks for fillies. There are also well-attended evening meetings and a Boxing Day card at Down Royal.

Down Royal Betting – The Big Races

The Champion Chase was first run in 1999 and is over 3m. The race was awarded Grade 1 status in 2002 and has an impressive roll of honour. Famous previous winners include Florida Pearl, Looks Like Trouble, Beef Or Salmon, Kauto Star, The Listener and Road To Riches.

The other graded races for Down Royal betting are the Grade 3 Mares Novice Hurdle, the Grade 2 WKD Hurdle and the Grade 2 Skymas Chase. Willie Mullins trained the winner of the Mares Hurdle four times in five seasons between 2014 and 2018.

The WKD Hurdle is for four-year-olds and upwards over 2m. The race was promoted to Grade 2 status in 2010 and has attracted some high-class performers. Past winners of the WKD Hurdle include Jessica Harrington’s Mac’s Joy (2004), Gimli’s Rock (2010) and Jezki (2013).

The Skymas Hurdle is over 2m4f and is named after the dual Queen Mother Champion Chase winner (1976 and 1977). Notable winners include Moscow Flyer (2002), Don Cossack (2014) and Ptit Zig (2015).

The Ulster Derby was established in 1936 and is restricted to three-year-olds over 1m4f. It was open to older horses between 1994 and 2014 and is Northern Ireland’s most valuable flat race.

Legendary Irish trainer Vincent O’Brien was successful seven times in this race, a figure equalled by Jim Bolger when Change Of Velocity won in 2018.

Down Royal Betting Tips

Gordon Elliott is the trainer to follow over jumps for your Down Royal bets. Noel Meade also features regularly in Down Royal tips while Willie Mullins’ runners are usually worth noting here.

Henry De Bromhead also has a fine record at this course. Sean Flanagan and Jack Kennedy are the most prolific National Hunt jockeys at Down Royal in recent seasons.

Jim Bolger and Ger Lyons are the most successful trainers here on the flat. Most of Bolger’s Down Royal winners have come in three-year-old races.

Anything running here for Dermot Weld is worthy of serious consideration as a Down Royal tip. His runners are rarely out of the money at this track. The leading riders on the flat here are Chris Hayes and Robbie Downey.

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Down Royal Course Characteristics

Down Royal is a right-handed, undulating track of just under 2m. The chase course is very fair, with an uphill finish and a short run-in of less than a furlong.

Races over 2m over hurdles start after the last fence on the chase track, with a slightly longer run-in. Jockeys often race wide here in search of the best ground.

There is a chute for sprint races on the flat, but horses are still on the turn until the final furlong. A low draw is an advantage for your Down Royal bets in sprint races. The track favours front runners and you should look for fast starters when assessing your Down Royal tips.

Famous Down Royal Races and Racehorses

Notable winners of the Ulster Derby include Highland Bud (1988) and Media Puzzle (2000). Highland Bud later became a rare runner over hurdles for Sheikh Mohammed, finishing runner-up in the Triumph Hurdle at the 1989 Cheltenham Festival.

He went on to win the valuable Breeders’ Cup Chase twice and was runner-up to Lonesome Glory in 1993.

Media Puzzle was a popular Down Royal bet when winning for Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen in 2000. He famously won the 2002 Melbourne Cup when ridden by Damien Oliver.

Media Puzzle broke the race record in the Geelong Cup in his prep race for Flemington. Oliver’s brother had died just one week prior to the Melbourne Cup, making it an emotional victory for all concerned.

Beef Or Salmon won the Champion Chase in 2004 and 2006 for trainer Michael Hourigan. The gelding featured in plenty of Down Royal tips when beating 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kicking King by three and a half lengths on his first visit.

Beef Or Salmon returned to Down Royal in 2006 to defeat 2006 Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition. It was a tremendous duel between the two, with Andrew McNamara just forcing Beef Or Salmon ahead in the final 100 yards to win by a neck.

Dual Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kauto Star won here in 2008 and 2010 for Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh. He was a strong Down Royal betting tip in 2008 when winning comfortably as the odds-on favourite. He returned two years later, his first race since falling in the Cheltenham Gold Cup won by Imperial Commander.

Once again, he dominated the Down Royal betting, this time beating 2011 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Sizing Europe by four lengths. Kauto Star went on to win a record fifth King George VI Chase at Kempton Park.

2004 WKD Hurdle winner Mac’s Joy won nine of his 31 career starts, including the Irish Champion Hurdle.

He’s best remembered for his great rivalry with Brave Inca and was second to that horse at Cheltenham in 2006. Jezki won the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in 2014 and the Aintree Hurdle the following year.

Down Royal Horse Racing History

Racing first took place at the current site in the early 18th century. Racing in the area can be traced back to 1685 when King James II formed the Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders.

The King’s Plate was first run in 1750 and continues today as Her Majesty’s Plate, a 1m5f race staged in July.

The course began a major development programme in the early 1990’s with the new grandstand opened in 1993. In 2019, the Down Royal Racecourse Merrion Group took over the day-to-day running of the course.

Down Royal Racecourse - How to get there

Down Royal is just 10 miles south of Belfast and one of only two tracks in Northern Ireland, the other being Downpatrick.

The racecourse is approximately 25 minutes by car or taxi from Belfast city centre. There is free car parking for everyone attending the racecourse.

There’s a special Down Royal bus from Joys Entry (High Street end) 90 minutes before racing, with a return bus one hour after the last race. The nearest railway station is at Lisburn, 10 minutes from the racecourse.