Leopardstown Racecourse waterlogged just days away from DRF

January 27, 2026

Parts of Leopardstown Racecourse are waterlogged just days away from the start of the Dublin Racing Festival.

According to the IHRB, following 58mm of rain in the last 24 hours – tallying 165mm in the last 12 days – areas of the track are currently submerged.

On the bright side, the heaviest rain has passed according to the forecast and only light showers are due on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The only notable rain is due to fall on Thursday night with a mainly dry period into the weekend.

As of Monday, the going on the hurdles track was soft to heavy and the chase track was yielding to soft, which for only a day ago, is now very much outdated.

Thanks to Twitter user Padraig Donnelly who took a walk around the track on Tuesday morning, the scenes at Leopardstown were a sight to behold.

Leopardstown going, yielding to soft on the chase course pic.twitter.com/9cPXJ25Na7

— Padraig Donnelly (@Padraigdonn11) January 27, 2026

Leopardstown widely regarded as one of the best drainage tracks

Leopardstown Racecourse, alongside other Irish tracks such as Fairyhouse and Navan, boast a comprehensive drainage system designed by Hayden Turfcare.

Richard Hayden supervised the installation of nearly 700,000 metres of drainage including pipe drainage, slit drainage, water management infrastructure and attenuation systems.

It vows to deliver consistent, year round conditions that drain well but are forgiving enough for jump racing and pending the forecast is correct, the course should look a lot different come the weekend.

It is worth nothing there is likely to be a big discrepancy between the hurdle and chase tracks, as the former is where flat racing is staged and it was consistently watered through the summer.

Fresh ground in use for Dublin Racing Festival

Speaking to the Racing Post last week, Peter Roe, head of racing for the tracks owned by HRI, revealed the DRF will use the middle line for the hurdles track “which hasn’t been used in ages, so it’s all fresh ground.

“The outer and inner tracks were used over Christmas so this will be completely fresh ground. The chase track is always a bit quicker.”

Will the Dublin Racing Festival be on?

As it stands, the answer to that question is up in the air but pending Leopardstown doesn’t receive an unprecedented amount of rain this week, the DRF should be good to go ahead.

It will be a difficult punting task for racegoers in treacherous conditions and erring on the side of caution is paramount to coming out unscathed.