Listowel Races: Dates, Kerry National and Tickets

Listowel Races: a guide to the Harvest Festival and the Kerry National

The 2026 Listowel Harvest Festival runs from Sunday 20 September to Saturday 26 September, seven days of racing at The Island on the edge of Listowel town in north Kerry. The Kerry National, the race of the week, is on Wednesday 23 September.

That's the answer most people come looking for. Here's everything around it: how the week is shaped, how to get there and in, what the Kerry National actually is, and how betting at an Irish racecourse works now, which isn't what it was last year.

The short version

• Dates: Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 September 2026, seven days on the trot, per Horse Racing Ireland and the racecourse.

• The big day: Wednesday, for the Kerry National. Worth €200,000 in recent years and the reason a fair chunk of the crowd turns up.

• Where: Listowel Racecourse, The Island, Listowel, Co. Kerry, V31 YW54. Close enough to walk in from the town centre.

• On the telly: TG4, free to air and on the TG4 Player, as it has been for 22 years running.

• Tickets: sold day by day, plus flexi and seven-day options. Cheaper online than at the gate.

• The bit nobody mentions: a bet struck with a bookmaker on the rails or with the Tote carries no betting duty at all. The same bet on your phone carries 2%.

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The week, day by day

The detailed 2026 programme lands in the weeks before the meeting, so take what follows as the shape of recent years rather than a confirmed card.

Sunday opens as a family day, built that way deliberately: the racing is there, but so is the children's entertainment. Monday and Tuesday have run as flat cards, with the rest of the week over jumps. Wednesday is the Kerry National and the busiest day by a distance. Thursday carries the Lartigue Hurdle and the best dressed man competition, Friday is Ladies Day, and Saturday closes the week with a sustainable style competition now well into its second decade.

Race times go up shortly beforehand rather than months in advance, on the racecourse site and on Horse Racing Ireland's racecards. A festival card at Listowel usually runs to seven races across the afternoon.

If you're only going the once: Wednesday for the racing and the atmosphere, and accept that it will be packed. Sunday if you're bringing children. Friday if the fashion side is the draw. Monday and Tuesday are the quietest days and the easiest to enjoy at your own pace, which is not nothing when the alternative is queuing three deep at a bar.

Getting there, and getting in

Listowel sits about 26 km north of Tralee and about 80 km west of Limerick. The racecourse describes three entrances, each with parking: Greenville, off Greenville Road; the Tralee entrance, off the N69 Listowel to Tralee road; and Barrett's Field, off Bridge Road.

There's no train station in Listowel, so the nearest railheads are Tralee and Limerick and you finish by bus or road. Bus Eireann's route 13 runs Limerick to Tralee through Adare, Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale and stops in Listowel; route 272 links Tralee, Listowel and Tarbert. Kerry Airport at Farranfore is the closest airport, Shannon the next.

Because the course is right up against the town rather than out on a bypass, plenty of people park in Listowel and walk in. During race week that's often faster, and certainly better if you're having a drink.

Tickets are sold by the day, with a flexi ticket and a seven-day festival ticket for anyone doing more than a single afternoon, plus hospitality packages. The racecourse knocks €5 off general tickets bought online rather than at the gate, so booking ahead is worth the two minutes. Current prices, children's admission and the day-by-day booking links are all on the racecourse's own booking page.

Betting, on-course or otherwise, is 18 and over.

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The Kerry National

The Kerry National is a Grade 3 handicap chase run over three miles on the Wednesday, and it has been worth €200,000 in recent years, which puts it among the most valuable jumps races staged outside the very biggest Irish meetings.

Handicap is the operative word. Every runner carries a weight set according to its rating, the idea being that they all cross the line together in some perfect theoretical world that has never once occurred. What it produces in practice is a big field, a wide-open market and a race that regularly goes to a horse a long way down the betting.

Spanish Harlem took the 2025 running for Willie Mullins under Danny Mullins. TG4 has the 2026 meeting down as the 168th edition of the festival.

One practical note: if you want a spot by the rails for the big race, start thinking about it a couple of races beforehand, not five minutes out.

Betting at Listowel: the rails, the Tote and your phone

Three options at the track, and they behave differently enough that it's worth knowing which is which.

On-course bookmakers line up on the rails with their prices chalked or screened up. You take the price as it stands when you hand over the money, and because there's a row of them you can walk the line and compare first. Prices move as money goes on, which makes it the closest thing racing has to a live market. If the prices chalked on a bookmaker's board are unfamiliar, reading them is a subject in itself and we cover it separately.

The Tote is pool betting rather than fixed odds. Everyone's money goes into one pot, which is divided among the winning tickets, and the dividend isn't settled until the race is run, so you don't know your price when you bet. Tote Ireland runs it at all 26 Irish racecourses and is a subsidiary of Horse Racing Ireland, so the profits go back into Irish racing.

Your phone works too, and if you already have an account it's the path of least resistance. It's also the one option of the three where you're dealing with an Irish-licensed operator, which we'll come to.

One mechanic worth understanding before a race like the Kerry National: a big-field handicap is exactly where people consider backing it each way, splitting the stake between the horse winning and it finishing placed. A €10 each-way bet is a €20 bet, not a €10 one, and both the number of places paid and the fraction of the odds on the place part vary by bookmaker and by field size. Read those terms before you hand the money over. We explain the sums in full elsewhere.

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What changed in the rules this year

If you were at Listowel last September, the betting ring will look identical. Underneath it, the legal ground has shifted, and 2026 is the year it happens.

Online betting has already changed. Bookmakers taking bets from Irish customers online or by phone have been licensed by the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland since 1 July 2026, replacing the old Revenue permissions. The practical consequence is at sign-up: a licensed remote operator must verify who you are and how old you are before it lets you register, which means photo identification, proof of address and a recent bank, building society or credit union statement. If you're opening an account for the week, do it before you travel rather than standing in a field in Kerry trying to photograph a utility bill.

The on-course bookmakers are a different story, and it makes September 2026 unusual. They're still trading on licences issued by the Revenue Commissioners, which run to 30 November 2026. From 1 December, in-person betting moves across to GRAI licences too. So this year's Harvest Festival is the last big Irish festival with the rails working under the old regime.

Then there's duty, and here the difference is genuinely striking. Revenue's own rates table puts betting duty at 2% on bets taken over the counter and 2% on bets placed by remote means, with 25% charged on the commission a betting exchange takes. On-course and tote bets are rated nil. Not reduced: nil.

Before anyone starts doing sums, that duty is charged to the bookmaker, not deducted from your stake, so you won't see a different figure on the slip. Where it shows up, if at all, is in the prices. It does help explain why the betting ring at an Irish racecourse has survived the way it has.

As for what you win, nothing changes. Gambling winnings aren't taxed in the hands of Irish players, whether the bet went on at the rails, through the Tote or on an app, so you keep the lot.

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The town, and what else is around

Listowel is a market town that takes its writing seriously, which isn't a sentence you get to write about many racing venues. John B. Keane lived and wrote here, and the town has traded on the literary connection for decades without getting precious about it.

The other local curiosity is the Lartigue, a monorail that ran the nine miles out to Ballybunion from 1888 to 1924, carriages slung either side of a single raised rail like panniers on a camel. A working replica and museum sit on John B. Keane Road, and the festival's Thursday feature hurdle carries the name.

Book a bed early or plan to stay in Tralee. North Kerry fills up in the third week of September and it fills up fast.

Frequently asked questions

When are the Listowel Races in 2026?

The Harvest Festival runs from Sunday 20 September to Saturday 26 September 2026, seven consecutive days.

What day is the Kerry National?

Wednesday 23 September 2026, the fourth day of the festival. It is a Grade 3 handicap chase over three miles, worth €200,000 in recent years.

What channel are the Listowel Races on?

TG4, free to air and on the TG4 Player, as it has been for 22 consecutive years. Racing TV also covers the meeting, by subscription.

How much are tickets?

Prices are on the racecourse site. Tickets are sold per day, with flexi and seven-day options, and a general ticket costs €5 less booked online than at the gate.

Is there a train to Listowel?

No. The nearest stations are Tralee and Limerick, and you finish the journey by bus or road. Bus Eireann routes 13 and 272 both stop in Listowel.

Do I pay tax on winnings from a bet at the races?

No. Gambling winnings are not taxable for players in Ireland, and on-course and tote bets carry no betting duty either.

Do the on-course bookmakers have Irish licences?

Yes, but the licence is changing hands. They hold Revenue-issued licences until 30 November 2026, after which in-person betting licences come from the Gambling Regulatory Authority of Ireland.

Safer gambling: a day at the races is a day out first, and a betting opportunity a distant second. If gambling is causing difficulty for you or someone you know, the National Gambling Helpline is free and confidential on 1800 936 725, 24 hours a day.