Rupert "Ruby" Walsh is an Irish former jockey. He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys of all time, Walsh is the third most prolific winner in British and Irish jump racing history behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.
The Arkle Challenge Trophy is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run on the Old Course at Cheltenham, England, over a distance of about 2 miles, and during its running there are thirteen fences to be jumped. The race is for novice chasers, and takes place each year during the Cheltenham Festival in March.
John Joseph "Jonjo" O'Neill is an Irish National Hunt racehorse trainer and former jockey. He is a native of Castletownroche, County Cork in Ireland. Based at the Jackdaws Castle training establishment in England. O'Neill twice won the British Champion Jockey title and won the Cheltenham Gold Cup on the mare, Dawn Run who became the only horse to complete the double of winning the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. He won 900 races as a jockey.
Charlie Swan is a former top National Hunt jockey in Ireland in the 1990s. He is associated with the great Istabraq, on whom he won three Champion Hurdles. He was twice top jockey at the Cheltenham Festival and was champion National Hunt jockey in Ireland for nine consecutive years. After retiring as a jockey he spent several years a trainer, based in Modreeny near Cloughjordan, County Tipperary.
Moscow Flyer was an Irish-bred and -trained National Hunt horse who ran over distances between 2 miles and 2+1⁄2 miles (3.2–4 km). A top-class horse who achieved a Timeform rating of 184, he won the Queen Mother Champion Chase in 2003 and 2005, the Tingle Creek Chase in 2003 and 2004 and the Arkle Challenge Trophy in 2002.
William Peter Mullins is an Irish racehorse trainer and former jockey. He is a seventeen-time Irish National Hunt Champion trainer. Mullins is the most successful trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, having saddled more than 100 winners.
Nicholas John Henderson is a British racehorse trainer. He has been British jump racing Champion Trainer six times.
Richard Johnson is a retired English National Hunt jockey. Johnson is the second most prolific winner in the history of National Hunt Racing behind Sir Anthony McCoy, a long-time rival of Johnson's, with over 3500 winners. Richard Dunwoody previously held the record with 1874.
Paul Carberry is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey.
The Barberstown Castle Novice Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt Steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Punchestown over a distance of about 2 miles, and during its running there are eleven fences to be jumped. The race is for novice chasers, and it is scheduled to take place each year during the Punchestown Festival in late April or early May.
Davy Russell is an Irish retired National Hunt jockey. He was Irish jump racing Champion Jockey three times, and won the Grand National (twice), the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris.
Sprinter Sacre, is a French-bred, British-trained Selle Français racehorse. He currently has the third highest ever Timeform steeplechase rating of 192p, behind only Arkle on 212 and Flyingbolt on 210 as their highest in the modern era.
Sizing Europe is an Irish National Hunt horse, best known for winning the 2011 Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham. He won the Irish Champion Hurdle in 2008 before switching to chasing, where he has won six Grade 1s over fences.
Andrew Lynch is a retired Irish National Hunt jockey. Lynch had his first ride in a bumper at Fairyhouse in April 2001 and his first winning ride in May 2002 on Tristernagh in a novice hurdle at Downpatrick. Lynch won 2 races in the Cheltenham Festival in 2010 and 2011. His 2 Cheltenham Festival wins in 2010 were on Sizing Europe and Berties Dream in the Arkle Challenge Trophy and Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle and respectively while his 2011 wins were on Sizing Europe and Sizing Australia in the Queen Mother Champion Chase and Cross Country Chase respectively. In May 2012 Lynch broke his leg after a fall at Cork.
Jessica Jane Harrington is an Irish professional horse trainer. Harrington specialises in National Hunt racing but has also had success in Flat racing.
Un de Sceaux is a French-bred AQPS racehorse who competed in National Hunt racing. After winning both his races in France he was transferred to the yard of trainer Willie Mullins in Ireland where he won two novice hurdles. In the 2013/14 National Hunt season he was undefeated in five races including the Red Mills Trial Hurdle in Ireland and both the Prix Hypothese and the Prix Leon Rambaud in France. When switched to steeplechases he recovered from a fall on his debut to win the Arkle Novice Chase, Arkle Challenge Trophy and Ryanair Novice Chase in the 2014/15 season. In 2015/16 he won the Clarence House Chase but was beaten by Sprinter Sacre when favourite for the Queen Mother Champion Chase. He began the 2016/17 season with a win in the Tingle Creek Chase and followed up with his second victory in the Clarence House Chase before taking the Ryanair Chase in March. In 2018 Un de Sceaux became the first horse to win three Clarence House chases but was disappointed at Cheltenham by Balko des Flos when attempting to regain his Ryanair crown. He finished the season on a high by winning the Devenish Chase at Fairyhouse before surprising his stablemate Douvan in the Punchestown Champion Chase, a race he won again in 2019. In the 2019/20 season he was beaten into second place by Defi Du Seuil in both the Tingle Creek Chase and the Clarence House Chase. In February 2020, while preparing for his sixth trip to the Cheltenham Festival, Un de Sceaux sustained a suspensory ligament injury and Mullins announced that the twelve-year-old would be retired to France. He had won 23 of his 34 starts, including ten Grade 1 victories.
Nicolai "Nico" W. Chastel de Boinville is an English horse racing jockey who competes in National Hunt racing. De Boinville has ridden more Grade One winners than any British jumps jockey currently active.
Noel Fehily is a retired Irish professional horse racing jockey. Throughout his professional career, he has enjoyed substantial success including the King George VI Chase and Champion Hurdle, despite enduring significant injuries.
Buveur d'Air is a retired French-bred British-trained AQPS racehorse who competed in National Hunt races. After winning twice in his native France he moved to England and won the Top Novices' Hurdle in 2016. In the following season he won two steeplechases before reverting to hurdle races to win the Contenders Hurdle and then recording his biggest success in the Champion Hurdle. In the 2017–18 season he was unbeaten, winning the Fighting Fifth Hurdle, Christmas Hurdle and a second Champion Hurdle, so becoming the second horse, after Kribensis, to win the Triple Crown of Hurdling. The 2018-19 season saw him win both the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and the Contenders Hurdle for the second time. In November 2019 he sustained a freak injury in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle and did not race for the rest of the season.
Paul Townend is an Irish jockey who competes in National Hunt racing. Townend comes from Lisgoold in County Cork and is the stable jockey for Irish trainer Willie Mullins. Townend has worked for Mullins since he was just fifteen years of age, beginning his career as an apprentice flat racing jockey. He is a six-time Irish jump racing Champion Jockey. He was champion in the 2010–11, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22, and 2022–23 seasons.
