Racing fans across Britain and Ireland will turn to The Curragh, next weekend, for the 2025 Irish Derby Festival.
Three days of elite racing in the Irish countryside contribute to one of Ireland’s premier flat meetings of the season.
Twenty-five scheduled races – including Five Group races – are set to run as the Festival’s namesake-race celebrates its 160th anniversary.
The event is steeped in history and continues to attract the sport’s most prestigious names, be it jockeys, owners or trainers.
After the racing action concludes on the first two days of the meeting, there will also be live music performances for racegoers to enjoy.
Here is everything you need to know about the 2025 Irish Derby Festival.
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When is the 2025 Irish Derby Festival?
This year’s event gets underway on Friday, June 27, with the first race due off at 4:50pm.
Day One serves up an evening of racing which serves up an eight-race card, setting the scene for a weekend of elite racing.
The second day is highlighted by the running of Group One Pretty Polly Stakes.
It is the fifth of eight races on the card and follows the running of two Group Two races and one Group Three race. It is due off at 3:30pm.
Day Three is Derby Day in which the event’s showpiece is staged at 4:10pm.
It is the Irish equivalent of the Derby Stakes, ran at Epsom Downs, and provides one of Ireland’s most thrilling races.
Trainers to watch
There is no better place to start than with leading-irishman Aidan O’Brien, who continues to dominate at home and overseas.
He has enjoyed a campaign in which he has seen his horses take victories in feature events at Chester, Epsom, Naas and The Curragh, to name a few.
His dominance is reflected in the Irish Trainers Championship where he leads the standings by around 600,000 euros in prize money.
O’Brien has won the Irish Derby sixteen times, so it is no surprise to see that he is the races’ leading trainer.
However, on the East side of the Irish Sea, he trails John and Thady Gosden – by just over £100,000 – in the Trainers Championship.
The Gosdens claimed a deserved victory in the Irish 2000 Guineas, at this course, earlier in the season and will be hoping to add to it at this meeting.
Should they send a challenger westward, they will arrive in form as they – like O’Bren – have trained five winners at Royal Ascot, this week.
Charlie Appleby has trained two British Classic winners this season.
His horses run in the renowned silks of prestigious owners Godolphin, and the pair combined to win the Irish Derby in 2021.
He is one of only three winners from overseas since 2006, with the others being Gosden and Ralph Beckett.
The latter won the race in 2022, whilst the former saw victory in 2015.
Another notable names include O’Brien’s son Joseph O’Brien, who is second in the Irish standings, and won the Irish Derby in 2018.
Andrew Balding, meanwhile, sandwiches Appleby and O’Brien to sit third in the British standings.
Jockeys to watch
Ryan Moore is the widely-regarded as the best jockey in the sport, and it is clear to see why.
He is the man lucky enough to ride the majority of those ballydoyle winners to victory and has won this race the last twice – becoming the first overseas jockey to win the race since 1999.
This season has seen him collect winning prize money at Royal Ascot, Chester’s May Festival and the Epsom Derby Festival, as well as many others.
Despite being only sixth in the Irish standings, he has earned more than 200,000 euros more than table-topper, Colin Keane.
Keane is the newly-named first choice jockey for illustrious owners Juddmonte, and has displayed his credentials on Field Of Gold, both at Ascot and The Curragh.
He is looking for his second Irish Derby win after winning for Juddmonte, on-board Beckett’s horse, in 2023.
William Buick is another searching for his second Irish Derby victory, and he is sure to ride a Godolphin-owned challenger should they send one.
He trails four-time Champion Jockey Oisin Murphy in the standings, and will arrive off in good form after riding two horses, for those same owners, to victory at Royal Ascot.
Murphy himself is another jockey to watch, topping the British standings and boasting a winning strike rate of 25% – bettered only by Buick.
How to watch the Irish Derby Festival on TV?
Racing TV will screen all the action live, for subscribers only, whilst ITV Racing will broadcast the racing, for free, on terrestrial TV.
By Callum Close
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