All About the Irish Grand National - 'Richest Race in Ireland' The Irish Grand National is a staple of the Easter Weekend with the Fairyhouse feature retaining a slot on Easter Monday. Together with the Welsh, Scottish and Aintree versions, the Irish Grand National is one of the pillars of the National circuit and joins its counterparts from Merseyside and at Ayr as part of the strong spring trio. Easter Monday the reliable slot The Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse is an Easter Monday tradition like no other on Ireland's sporting landscape. Like the English and Scottish Grand Nationals, the Irish version doesn't have a set date in the calendar, but this great race moves with Easter and always slots into an early evening position on the Bank Holiday Monday. At home at Fairyhouse Fairyhouse Racecourse is located just outside the town of Ratoath in Co Meath and is the home of the Irish Grand National. The first recorded race meeting was held in 1848 and, 22 years later in 1870, the first Irish Grand National steeplechase was held at Fairyhouse. The inaugural running was won by a horse called Sir Robert Peel, with prize money of 167 sovereigns. The 2026 Irish Grand National has an overall prize pool of €500,000, making it the richest race on the calendar in Ireland. When is the Irish Grand National? The 2026 Irish Grand National will take place on Monday, April 6 with a scheduled off time of 5pm. How to watch the Irish Grand National The race will be shown live on RTE Racing, with Ireland's national broadcaster retaining the rights to terrestrial racing from Ireland. Racing TV is the home of every Irish race and the subscription channel will also show live coverage of the Irish National. Many leading bookmakers offer customers free live streaming of UK and Irish racing when they are logged into their accounts. Famous winners of the Irish Grand National The most successful horse in the history of the race is Brown Lad, who won three times for trainer Jim Dreaper in 1975, 1976 and 1978. The great Arkle won the race in 1964 and is still regarded by many as one of the greatest of all-time. He carried 12st to victory in this race under Pat Taaffe for trainer Tom Dreaper. Though no horse yet has managed to win the Aintree and Irish Nationals in the same season, quite a few have triumphed in both races. The first to complete the double was Ascetic's Silver (Fairyhouse 1904/Aintree 1906) while they also include Bobbyjo for father/son Tommy and Paul Carberry, winner at Fairyhouse in 1998 before triumphing a year later at Aintree and Numbersixvalverde, who won the Irish National for Martin Brassil under Ruby Walsh in 2005 and went to Liverpool a year later to win under Niall 'Slippers' Madden. I Am Maximus won at Fairyhouse in 2023 for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend and would triumph at Aintree 12 months later for the same firm and owner JP McManus. Most successful Irish Grand National trainer Arkle's trainer Tom Dreaper remains the most successful of all-time in the Fairyhouse feature with 10 wins. They came via Prince Regent (1942), Shagreen (1949), Royal Approach (1954), Olympia (1960), Fortria (1961), Kerforo (1962), Last Link (1963), Arkle (1964), Splash (1965) and Flyingbolt (1966). Most successful Irish Grand National jockey The Arkle connection also holds firm with Pat Taaffe being the most successful rider in the history of this race. He won on the great horse in 1964 and also scored with Royal Approach (1954), Umm (1955), Zonda (1959), Fortria (1961) and Flyingbolt (1966) for a standout tally of six wins.
