Listowel Racecourse is one of the jewels in the crown of rural Ireland. Located in County Kerry, Listowel holds nine race meetings every year which is divided into a two-day fixture in June and the renowned seven-day Listowel Harvest Festival in September. Racing started at the current site in 1858 and while the Harvest Festival originally started as a two-day meeting, its popularity resulted in it being gradually lengthened up to its current seven-day status in 2002. The racing highlight of the Harvest Festival is the Kerry National, a fiercely-competitive handicap chase that has grown into a highly-valuable contest. Perhaps the most notable horse to ever run on the Flat at Listowel was the Irish Derby and King George winner Alamshar who made a winning debut at the Harvest Festival in 2002.