Earliest meeting: Thursday 11th October 1787
Final meeting: present day
The county Tipperary county town of the same name, on the River Ara, is in the historical barony of Clanwilliam. The earliest record of racing in the town was a four day meeting, spread over seven days, from Thursday 11th to Wednesday 17th October 1787. The meeting opened with a 50 Guineas Plate over a mile and a half which was won by Mr D B Daly’s Little Moll, while the next day an all-age Handicap was staged in which the 3 year olds were allocated ‘a feather’ compared to 7st 3lb for 4 year olds, and up to 8st 12lb for aged horses. The event was won by Mr Hewson’s 6 year old Lady Betty, beating the 5 year old Ranunculus. On Saturday 13th October the Town Purse, run in 4 mile heats, was won by Colonel Eyre’s Olympia after completing a full 12 miles before claiming the prize, while after a break of three days the concluding Handicap Plate went to Mr Shadwell’s Eagle at the expense of Sir Joseph Grey’s Washington. Meetings continued to be advertised as Tipperary until 27th March 1848 when racing transferred to the Barronstown course where it remained for over half a century. The Tipperary meeting was always held in high regard, never more so than during the War years. In April 1917 the War Cabinet announced that all racing in the United Kingdon would be prohibited on economic grounds, but after much wrangling a deal was struck whereby a small number of meetings could continue to stage racing; the two chosen courses being the Curragh and Tipperary. The September 1916 meeting was billed as ‘Limerick Junction’ and racing continued to be advertised as such until switching back to its current name, ‘Tipperary Races’ in 1986.

Saturday 13th October 1787
Tipperary Town Purse over 4 miles
1. Olympia, bay mare owned by Colonel Eyre
2. Lady Berry, bay mare owned by Mr Hays
3. Waterman, bay gelding owned by Mr Uniack

Tuesday 6th & Wednesday 7th June 1899

The Flying Handicap Plate over 6 furlongs
1. Star Chamber owned by Mr Bradlaw
2. Clan Graham owned by Mr W P Cullen
3. Breadberry owned by Mr Richmond

The Curragh Handicap Plate over a mile
1.  Breadberry owned by Mr Richmond
2. John Peel owned by Mrs Hartigan
3. Strokestown owned by Mr D Owen

Much of the information about this course has been found using internet research and is in the public domain. However, useful research sources have been:-

London Illustrated News

Racing Illustrated 1895-1899

The Sporting & Dramatic Illustrated

Northern Turf History Volumes 1-4 by J.Fairfax-Blakeborough

The Sporting Magazine

A Long Time Gone by Chris Pitt first published in 1996 ISBN 0 900599 89 8

Racing Calendars which were first published in 1727

ISBN 978-0-9957632-0-3

652 pages

774 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-1-0

352 pages

400 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-2-7

180 pages

140 former courses

ISBN 978-0-9957632-3-4

264 pages

235 former courses