It’s going to be a busy Saturday in Ireland, where there are a brace of meetings taking place. In addition to the card at Naas, there’s a further 7 races at Bellewstown. The feature race is the Bellewstown Handicap Hurdle, featuring the likes of Rendezvous Peak, Timiyan and Jessica Harrington’s Light That.
Join RaceBets And Claim Your Welcome Bonus Now!Racing At Bellewstown
Bellewstown is one of the lesser-known courses in the Republic of Ireland. It is located in County Meath, on the Hill of Crockafotha. Bellewstown enjoys a perfect rural setting and is close to both the Irish Sea and the Mountains of Mourne.
Both flat and National Hunt racing take place here. The track is oval-shaped, runs left-handed and has bends that are sharper than you will find at most other courses in Ireland. The circumference of the course is 1m 1f. There is a 3-furlong straight with a punishing uphill finish.
Festivals
There are five days of racing that take place here, each summer. These are split into 2 different meetings. There is a 3-day July Festival and a 2-day August Festival.
History
Documents exist to prove that racing was taking place here almost 300 years ago. The old track used to have a cricket pitch at it’s core and the course was very-much the centre of sporting activity in the Boyne River Valley. In 1780, King George III decided to sponsor a race at Bellewstown. The ‘His Majesty’s Plate’ race offered a prize of £100 – an enormous sum of money, at that time.
Betting Coups
The course gained notoriety, after an unfortunate incident (for bookmakers, at least!) in the mid-1970s. They fell victim to a scam known as the Yellow Sam Betting Coup. A horse called Yellow Sam was under-handicapped to a ridiculous degree and the mistake was seized upon by a man named Barney Curley, who was a sharp entrepreneur and a professional gambler to boot.
Curley spotted a fundamental weakness, in that there were poor communications between on-course and off-course bookies. Before the bookies had time to realise what was going on, Curley had pocketed over 300,000 Irish pounds, after Yellow Sam romped home!
Facilities
Bellewstown is a very popular venue and both of the summer festivals are well-attended. They always have a party atmosphere with lots of drinking, dancing and entertainment. They also have corporate hospitality and can cater for up to 400 guests.
This is a great little course and well worth the visit. RaceBets offer betting markets for all Bellewstown races, so why not create an account today and bet online? We offer a great welcome bonus and a huge range of great promotional offers on Irish and UK races.
Join RaceBets And Claim Your Welcome Bonus Now!
