Roscommon is located in County Roscommon in the midlands of Ireland, around 135km to the west of Ireland and 75km north east of Galway. The course hosts both flat and national hunt racing and hosts nine fixtures across both codes between May and September each year.

In September Roscommon hosts a Grade 3 chase which is the highlight of their jumps calendar whilst on the flat the course’s premier race would be the Listed Lenebane Stakes which is run in July.

Roscommon Course Characteristics

Roscommon is a right handed, oval course. A complete circuit of the course measures around ten furlongs and there is a three and a half furlong run in. It’s a fairly flat course although the home straight is slightly undulating. The course has some relatively sharp turns but is considered a pretty fair venue.

Roscommon Top Flat Jockeys

No flat jockey has had more wins at Roscommon since 2009 than Colin Keane, who has had 27 wins here in that period. Shane Foley is the next best jockey here currently riding with 22 wins.

Ben Cohen has the best strike rate here since 2009 with a win percentage of 19.23% at the time of writing. That puts him just ahead of Donnacha O’Brien who has won 10 of his 55 rides at Roscommon giving him a strike rate of 18.18%. Colin Keane, the leading rider here, also has a good strike rate of 17.76% and he’s also profitable to back here with a Win PL of 9.46.

Roscommon Top Jumps Jockeys

Davy Russell has been the leading rider over jumps at Roscommon since 2009 with 22 rides at the time of writing, 7 more than his nearest competitors. Those nearest competitors are Mark Walsh on 15 winners and Paul Townend who has 13 wins.

Jack Kennedy has won 7 of his 30 riders at Roscommon which means from the riders still in action, he shows the best win strike rate of 23.33. Dany Russell is not far off the pace with a strike rate of 21.78%.

Roscommon Top Flat Trainers

The leading flat trainer at Roscommon since 2009 has been Ger Lyons with 29 wins since 2009 at the time of writing. That’s a slender lead over Jim Bolger though who has 22 wins here.

Augustine Leahy has been a trainer to follow here when having runners with a strike rate of 45.45%. To put that into context the next best win strike rate is from Ger Lyons with 20.91%

Roscommon Top Jumps Trainers

Gordon Elliott has more wins than any other trainer on the national hunt course at Roscommon since 2009. He’s amassed 26 wins at the time of writing which sees him come out on top comfortably, 10 ahead of Willie Mullins. Henry De Bromhead is next best with 15 jumps wins at Roscommon.

Willie Mullins has had far fewer runners at Roscommon than Gordon Elliott though so he actually produces the best win percentage at the course of 27.59. That compares very favourably with Elliott’s 17.69%. The most profitable jumps trainer to follow at Roscommon has been Colin Bowe who boasts an impressive Win PL of 43.88.

Roscommon Draw Bias

Roscommon is a very fair course from a draw perspective with little to no draw bias at any distance. The PRB (Percentage of Rivals Beaten) figures for low, middle and high are very close whatever the distance and it seems you can win from any draw here.

Roscommon Pace Bias

As with many courses, there does seem to be a front running bias on the flat course at Roscommon. At 7f there is a front runner IV of 2.5, at 10f there is a front runner IV of 3.71 and even over 12f there is a front runner IV of 1.42.

The majority of data supports the argument that the further off the pace you are at Roscommon, the more of a disadvantage it is. Roscommon doesn’t host a huge amount of racing though so there is slightly limited data but what data there is does support the theory that prominent racers are advantaged over patiently ridden runners here.

On the jumps course at Roscommon the bias seems less strong. The longer the distance the less the pace bias tends to be in racing so it’s no surprise there is a stronger bias on the flat than over obstacles. Having said that there does still appear to an edge for the prominent racers in national hunt races here (they do better than front runners as well as those that race in mid division or are held up).

*All stats and data provided above were taken on 31/01/21.