Royal Runner in the Kingdom Killarney racecourse will play host to the first Royal owned runner in Ireland for 37 years when Four Winds runs in the Vincent O’Brien Ruby Stakes on the day one of the four day August Festival, Tuesday 18th August. The race will act as the centre piece of a seven race all flat card with the first going to post at 5.15pm. The 1mile 100 yards listed contest worth €45,000 has attracted a field of 13 runners and will be a Killarney debut for the connections of Four Winds with both trainer Michael Bell and owner, The Queen, having never had a runner at the Kerry track. The evening will host a memorial theme in honour of the late Dr.O'Brien with big screen prenestations and live parade ring interviews highlighting the world-wide impact that the legendary Vincent O'Brien made on horse racing during his career. Commenting on the significance of the occasion Killarney Racecourse Manager Michael Lucey said “As part of the continued effort to further develop Killarney racecourse, additional fixtures were sought which resulted in this inaugural August racing festival. One of the features of this four day mixed meeting is the Vincent O’Brien Ruby Listed Stakes which is Kerry’s only listed race." "We are very pleased with the calibre of entrants as all the major Irish yards are represented not to mention an interesting runner from Michael Bell’s in the UK”.
