A festival like no other in Irish flat-racing is just over two weeks away, as the 2025 Irish Champions Festival gets underway.
Two days of elite racing action will see Champions crowned and over five million euros awarded in prize money.
Six Group One races will attribute to a weekend where the feature race is the final Irish Classic race of the season – the Irish St Leger.
It is held on the second and final day of the meeting which is staged at two different courses, first Leopardstown and then The Curragh.
Ireland will once again have its day in the racing spotlight, below is everything you need to know about the Irish Champions Festival.
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When is the Irish Champions Festival?
Saturday, September 13 will see Leopardstown open the show with a nine-race card, highlighted by the running of two Group One contests.
The (Group One) Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes will run at 4:25pm, preceding the running of the (Group One) The Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes, at 5:30pm.
Day two will see The Curragh take centre stage, as it hosts the running of the Festival’s four other Group One races, including the festival’s showpiece event – the 2025 Irish St Leger.
It is due off at 4:25pm, on Sunday, September 14, and will see 500,000 euros awarded in prize money.
Trainers to watch
Aidan O’Brien is no-stranger to the winners enclosure at both The Curragh and Leopardstown.
His Ballydolye/Coolmore Stud operation are operating at a 25% win rate at both courses this season, with the Curragh playing host to a host of prestigious race wins.
To name a few, from the Irish 1000 Guineas to the Tattersalls Gold Cup, the Irish Derby and Irish Oaks, O’Brien has taken the lot.
At the time of writing this, his horses are in great form, with the Irishman seeing 18 of his last 25 runners place – seven of whom were winners.
O’Brien is clear at the top of both the British and Irish standings, but with the St Leger Festival at Doncaster running alongside this meeting, it may pay dividends to focus on the trainers staying on their respective home turfs.
Two of the remaining top four in the Irish trainer standings also appear in both the leading-trainer statistics at The Curragh and Leopardstown.
Joseph Patrick O’Brien, son of Aidan, trails his father by over two million euros in prize money, whilst Jonny Murtagh is fourth in the standings.
The former holds a 16% and 12% win rate at Leopardstown and the Curragh, respectively, while the latter boasts a 21% win rate at Leopardstown.
Sandwiched between those two in the Championship table is Gerald Lyons, who has trained the same number of winners as Murtagh (at The Curragh this season) and has done so with 32 fewer runners.
Other names to watch include Adrian Murray, who sits fifth in the Irish Trainer standings and holds a 23% win rate at The Curragh.
Jockeys to watch
Similarly to trainers, due to this meeting clashing with the St Leger Festival at Doncaster, focusing on the Irish jockeys may be a route to go down.
With bigger names from across the Irish Sea perhaps preoccupied, this could be a time for Wayne Lordan to shine.
Often the understudy to main-man Ryan Moore, Lordan has found himself the winner of the three prestigious races in the UK, this season – notably the Epsom Derby.
He is fifth in the Irish Champion Jockey table, but depending on where Moore is plying his trade, Lordan could land himself some nice rides.
Moore himself boasts a 46% win rate at Leopardstown and a 38% win rate at The Curragh.
Although he is only eighth in the Irish Jockey standings, he has accumulated more than a million euros more in prize money than table-topper Dylan Browne McMonagle.
McMonagle has ridden 67 this campaign, which is four greater than first-choice Juddmonte rider Colin Keane, in second.
He is operating at a 16% strike rate at both The Curragh and Leopardtown this season, whilst Chris Hayes is at 17% for the latter – he is third in the standings.
Shane Foley is the only other jockey to accumulate more than one million euros in prize money, not to have been mentioned.
His win rate at Leopardstown is 15%, though he does trade at a positive level stakes profit totalling +32.12.
How to watch the 2025 Irish Champions Festival?
Racing TV will broadcast the action live, for their subscribers only.
Bookmakers, both online and on the high-street will show every race live, though you will likely have to place a bet in order to watch the race.
By Callum Close
READ MORE: St Leger Festival 2025 – Dates, how to watch on TV, trainers and jockeys to watch
