The Irish Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Leopardstown over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.
Urban Sea was an American bred Thoroughbred racemare best known for winning France's most prestigious race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, in 1993 and for her importance as a world-class broodmare. She is one of ten mares to produce two Derby winners, namely Galileo and Sea the Stars. She is the only mare in the 21st century to produce two Derby winners. None has produced three winners of this race.
Sea The Stars is a retired champion Irish Thoroughbred racehorse regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all time. He won the 2000 Guineas, the Derby, the Eclipse Stakes – the first colt to accomplish this treble since 1989 champion Nashwan – the International Stakes, the Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in the same year. Sea The Stars is also a successful sire. His progeny have won classic races including the Derby, Irish Derby, and the Oaks.
Snurge, was an Irish-bred British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from September 1989 until September 1994, he ran thirty-four times and won seven races. He recorded his most important success when winning the Classic St. Leger Stakes as a three-year-old maiden in 1990. In the following seasons he won major races in France, Italy and Canada, before retiring as a seven-year-old. At the time of his retirement he held the record for prize money won by a European-trained horse, although the precise total of his earnings was difficult to determine because of the number of different currencies involved.
Solemia is an Irish-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2012 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Before her win in the Arc, Solemia had won four of her twelve races, with her biggest win coming in the Group Two Prix Corrida at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in May 2012.
Detroit was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1980. Unraced as a two-year-old, Detroit won her first four races in 1980 including the Prix Fille de l'Air, Prix Chloé and Prix de la Nonette. She was beaten when favourite for the Prix Vermeille before winning the Arc in record time. She remained in training as a four-year-old and won three more races including the Prix Foy. She was retired to stud where she produced the Arc de Triomphe winner Carnegie.
The 2014 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was a horse race held at Longchamp on Sunday, 5 October 2014. It was the 93rd running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Flintshire is a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who has been trained in France and the United States. Unraced as a juvenile, he was one of the best three-year-old colts in France in 2013, winning the Prix du Lys and the Grand Prix de Paris. In 2014 he finished second in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Breeders' Cup Turf before recording his biggest win in the Hong Kong Vase. As five-year-old he won the Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap and again finished second in the Arc. At the start of his six-year-old season in 2016 he was sent to be trained in the United States. He began the season with victories in the Manhattan Handicap, Bowling Green Handicap and Sword Dancer Stakes, before finishing second in his last two starts, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic and Breeders' Cup Turf.
Found is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. Sired by Galileo out of the mare Red Evie, she represents the Coolmore Stud organisation and is trained by Aidan O'Brien. In 2014 she won a strong maiden race on her debut and then finished third in the Moyglare Stud Stakes before winning the Prix Marcel Boussac. She was rated the equal-best two-year-old filly to race in Europe in 2014.
Anabaa Blue is a British-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was sired by the sprinter Anabaa out of Allez Les Trois, a mare with a very strong middle-distance pedigree. Between September 2000 and October 2002 he ran fourteen times and won four races. After showing moderate ability in two races as a juvenile he showed marked improvement in the following spring. After winning a minor stakes race on his debut, he won the Prix Noailles, finished a close second in the Prix Lupin and then recorded his most significant victory in the Prix du Jockey Club. He was beaten in his three remaining races as a three-year-old, but returned in the following year to win the Grand Prix de Chantilly and finish second in the Prix Foy. He was retired to stud at the end of his four-year-old season and has had some success as a sire of winners.
Postponed is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He won one minor race as a two-year-old before establishing himself as a useful middle-distance performer in the following year with wins in the Glasgow Stakes and the Great Voltigeur Stakes. In July 2015, he recorded his biggest victory in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot Racecourse and followed up with a success in the Prix Foy. After a change of trainer he returned in 2016 to win the Dubai City of Gold, Dubai Sheema Classic, Coronation Cup and International Stakes. He was retired from racing in May 2017 having won 9 of his 20 races and earned nearly £5,000,000 in win and place prize money.
The 2015 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was a horse race held at Longchamp on Sunday 4 October 2015. It was the 94th running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
New Bay is a British-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. As a three-year-old in 2015 he won the Prix du Jockey Club, Prix Guillaume d'Ornano and Prix Niel before finishing third in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
Harzand is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2016 Epsom Derby. He showed some promise when finishing fifth in his only race as a two-year-old in 2015. In the spring of 2016 he won a maiden race by sixteen lengths and then established himself as a potential top-class performer with a win in the Group Three Ballysax Stakes. On 4 June 2016, despite doubt about his suitability for the race and a late injury scare, he defeated fifteen opponents to win the 237th running of The Derby. Three weeks later he won the Irish Derby at the Curragh but he was beaten in two subsequent races and was retired from racing at the end of the season.
Highland Reel is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career running from June 2014 to December 2017 he raced in Ireland, Britain, France, the United States, Australia, Hong Kong and Dubai, and recorded seven victories at Group 1 or Grade 1 level in the Secretariat Stakes, Hong Kong Vase (twice), King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Breeders' Cup Turf, Coronation Cup and Prince of Wales's Stakes. He was also placed in the Prix du Jockey Club, Cox Plate, International Stakes, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and Champion Stakes. He holds the record for the greatest amount of prize money earned by a racehorse trained in Europe.
Idaho is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. In four years on the track he raced in seven countries, namely Ireland, France, England, Canada, the United States, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. In 2016 he finished third in The Derby and second in the Irish Derby before winning the Great Voltigeur Stakes. He was the odds-on favourite for the St Leger Stakes but stumbled and unseated his rider. In the following year he ran poorly in the Coronation Cup but then won the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot and finished third in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The highlight of his final season was a win in the Ormonde Stakes.
Almanzor is a French Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old he won his first three races on provincial French tracks but was well-beaten when moved up in class for the Critérium International. In the following year he finished third on his debut but later emerged as the best horse of his generation in Europe with five consecutive victories, taking the Prix de Guiche, Prix du Jockey Club, Prix Guillaume d'Ornano, Irish Champion Stakes and Champion Stakes. He stayed in training as a four-year-old but was affected by a virus and subsequent physical setback and was retired after making an unsuccessful return to racing in August 2017.
Enable is a champion British Thoroughbred racehorse who won 15 of her 19 races, including 11 Group One races. Her biggest wins include the Breeders' Cup Turf, Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, Epsom Oaks, Irish Oaks, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Eclipse Stakes and Yorkshire Oaks. Enable was the 2017 and 2019 European Horse of the Year.
The 2017 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was a horse race held at Chantilly on Sunday 1 October 2017. The race could not take place at its usual venue at Longchamp Racecourse as that course was closed in 2016 for major redevelopment. It was the 96th running of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. The race was won by Khalid Abdullah's three-year-old filly Enable, trained in England by John Gosden and ridden by Frankie Dettori. It was a record-breaking fifth win in the race for Dettori after wins on Lammtarra, Sakhee, Marienbard and Golden Horn. Gosden was winning the race for the second time, while Khalid Abdulla was recording his fifth win in the race. Enable became the first British-trained filly to win the Arc and the sixth female winner in the last seven runnings of the race.
Sea of Class was an Irish-bred British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. She was unraced as a juvenile and beaten on her three-year-old debut, but then made rapid progress, winning the Fillies' Trial Stakes in May and the Abingdon Stakes in June. When stepped up to Group 1 class she defeated top-class fields to take the Irish Oaks in July and the Yorkshire Oaks in August before being narrowly beaten in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Initially it was believed that Sea of Class died from colic, the supposed colic subsequently proved to be lymphoma, and an initial growth was removed. A further cancerous growth was discovered 19 days after the original operation; the discovery of the latter resulted in Sea of Class being euthanized on July 22, 2019. Sea of Class is widely regarded to be one of the best middle distance horses of her generation.
