A new book is out this month by horseracing writer Ollie O'Donoghue which tells the full story of the Mitchelstown Races.
The new book brings together rare photographs, reports, and all the facts and figures from 125 years of horseracing, as well as insightful interviews with those who were present.
Copies of this limited-edition book can be ordered through the following website: mitchelstown.myshopify.com
Each copy is priced at €23.20 / £20.00 which includes delivery to anywhere in Ireland or the UK. Readers of the Point-To-Point Racing Company website can unlock a ten per cent discount by using the code P2PUK.
A launch event will be held in The Hunters Rest in Mitchelstown at 10pm on Saturday, December 9th, and readers will be able to meet the author and pick up a copy.
O'Donoghue grew up and went to school in Mitchelstown and moved to London ten years ago. He has written about horseracing for years and was previously a bloodstock journalist for the Racing Post, analysing pedigrees and reporting from racehorse sales in Britain, Ireland and South Africa. Among the sales he reported from was the 2019 Goffs Orby Sale, when a filly by the legendary stallion Galileo sold for €3 million.
For the book, O'Donoghue regularly returned home to Ireland to visit the old racecourses and to speak to people who attended and participated in the races, which last took place in 1958.
If you have any further information relating to the Mitchelstown Races, or would like to find out more, you can contact the writer by email at
"The Mitchelstown Races are a wonderful part of our town's history," says O'Donoghue. "I was lucky to be able to speak to so many interesting people, which really helped bring the newspaper reports and photographs to life. I hope readers will get as much enjoyment from this book as I did writing it."