Chris Hayes (born 11 August 1987) in County Limerick [1] is an Irish jockey who competes in Flat racing.
Hayes wanted to be a solicitor as a child, but changed his mind when introduced to pony racing. [2] After attending the Racing Academy and Centre of Education (RACE) in Kildare, he joined the stable of Kevin Prendergast in 2004 as an apprentice jockey. He was Irish champion apprentice in 2005, 2006 and 2007. [1]
His first Group race win was on Capt Chaos (renamed Energized) in the Group 3 Tetrarch Stakes for trainer Edward Lynam in May 2008. He had to wait five years for his first Group 1 win, on La Collina, trained by Prendergast, in the Irish Matron Stakes on 7 September 2013. Eight days later he secured his first Irish Classic victory when Voleuse de Coeurs, trained by Dermot Weld, won the Irish St. Leger. [3]
In 2017 he became first jockey to Fozzy Stack, alongside his role as Prendergast's stable jockey. [1] In 2019 he became first jockey to Dermot Weld. [4] In September 2019 the partnership achieved another Irish St. Leger win with Search For A Song. [3] Hayes rode Homeless Songs to victory for Weld in the 2022 Irish 1,000 Guineas. That season and the next, there were four Group 1 wins with the Weld-trained Tahiyra, including another win in the Irish 1,000 Guineas. [3] On 31 May 2024, Hayes secured his first British Classic when Ezeliya won the Epsom Oaks, again for trainer Weld. [5]
Hayes, together with his wife Rachel, also breeds racehorses. He bought his first broodmare, Butoolat, for 10,000 guineas in 2017 in order to take advantage of his nomination to Awtaad, on whom he had won the 2016 Irish 2,000 Guineas for Prendergast. [6]
Ireland
Great Britain
Johnny Murtagh is an Irish flat racing trainer and former jockey from Bohermeen, near Navan, Kells, County Meath. As a jockey he won many of the major flat races in Europe, including all the Irish Classics, all the Group 1 Races at Royal Ascot, The Derby, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes and Europe's biggest race the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He was also Irish flat racing Champion Jockey five times. As a trainer, based at stables near Kildare, he has saddled a winner at Royal Ascot and an Irish Classic winner.
Michael J. Kinane is an Irish former flat racing jockey. He had a 34-year career, retiring on 8 December 2009.
Jamie Spencer is an Irish flat racing jockey currently riding in the UK. He has been champion jockey in both Ireland and Britain and has won seven classics, five in Ireland and two in England. Spencer is an advocate for the art of holding up horses late into the races, and then making use of their natural dash of speed.
John M. Oxx is a retired Irish trainer of thoroughbred racehorses. By the end of the 2009 season Oxx had trained 35 Group One winners over his career, including the winners of 11 Classic races. He is best known as the trainer of Sinndar and Sea The Stars.
Christy Roche is a retired Irish flat racing Champion Jockey and racehorse trainer.
Dermot K. Weld, a former jockey is one of Ireland's most successful racehorse trainers. He set a new record for the most winners trained in Ireland with 2,578 in August 2000, holding the record until Willie Mullins overtook it in May 2024.
Patrick Joseph Smullen, was an Irish jockey who won the Irish flat racing Champion Jockey title nine times. In a career running from 1992 to 2018 he rode 1,845 winners in Ireland and 47 in Britain. Amongst his biggest successes were riding Harzand to victories in the Epsom Derby and Irish Derby in 2016. He was stable jockey to Dermot Weld from 1999 until 2018.
Edgar Clive Britt OAM was an Australian jockey, who won every British Classic Race except the Derby.
Garnet Bougoure was an Australian jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing who was highly successful competing in South-East Asia and in Europe.
Colm O'Donoghue is a multiple Group 1 and Classic winning flat jockey. For most of his career, he was based at the Ballydoyle racing stables in Rosegreen, Cashel, County Tipperary.
Joseph Patrick O'Brien is an Irish horse racing trainer and former flat racing jockey. He is the son of trainer Aidan O'Brien. In 2012 he rode Camelot to win the 2,000 Guineas, the 2012 Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby.
James Anthony "Seamie" Heffernan is an Irish flat racing jockey associated for most of his career with the stable of horse racing trainer Aidan O'Brien. From a family with no racing connections, Heffernan was introduced to the sport when he took a summer holiday job with the National Hunt trainer Arthur Moore. He began his racing career as an apprentice jockey for P J Finn and rode his first winner on 10 August 1988 at the age of sixteen. When Finn retired he moved to the yard of Jim Bolger and shared the Irish champion apprentices title in 1994. He was runner-up in the same competition in 1995 and moved to Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle stable in 1996 where he was second jockey after Christy Roche.
Patrick Joseph Prendergast (1910–1980), known as Paddy "Darkie" Prendergast was an Irish trainer of racehorses. He won seventeen Irish classics and became the first Irish trainer to have a major impact on British flat racing. He trained the first Irish winners of the 2000 Guineas and The Oaks and was British champion trainer for three successive seasons.
The 2016 Epsom Derby was the 237th annual running of the Derby horse race and took place at Epsom Downs Racecourse on 4 June 2016. The race was won by the Aga Khan's Harzand, ridden by Pat Smullen and trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld. Harzand's victory was the first in the race for his jockey and trainer, and the fifth for his owner, who had prior wins with Shergar, Shahrastani, Kahyasi and Sinndar.
Voleuse de Coeurs is an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. A specialist stayer who was favoured by soft ground she won five of her seventeen races in a track career which lasted from September 2011 until May 2014. She failed to win as a two-year-old but made steady improvement when tried over long distance in the following year, winning three races including the two-mile Irish Cesarewitch. She continued to improve as a four-year-old, winning the Vintage Crop Stakes and recording her biggest win in the Irish St. Leger. She was then sold to race in Australia where she failed to win in four races.
La Collina is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. As a two-year-old in 2011 she won a minor race on her debut and went on to record a 33/1 upset win over a strong field in the Phoenix Stakes. She failed to win in eleven races over the next two years before springing another surprise when taking the 2013 Matron Stakes at odds of 25/1. Apart from her wins, she was placed in the Moyglare Stud Stakes, Silver Flash Stakes, Blue Wind Stakes, Gladness Stakes and Abu Dhabi Stakes.
Search For A Song is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse best known for her performances over extended distances. After being unraced as a juvenile she won on her racecourse debut in 2019 and finished fourth in the Irish Oaks before going on to win the Galtres Stakes and the Irish St Leger. In 2020 she won a second Irish St Leger as well as finishing second in the British Champions Long Distance Cup and third in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
Ron Hutchinson is a retired Australian jockey, who won over 1000 races in Europe. In a 37-year racing career, he was successful across three continents.
Homeless Songs is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. After showing promise as a two-year-old in 2021 when she won one race from three attempts, she improved in the following spring to take the Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial Stakes and the Irish 1,000 Guineas.
Tuesday is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. She finished second on her only run as a two-year-old and won a minor race on her three-year-old debut. She then emerged as a top-class performer, finishing third in the 1000 Guineas and second in the Irish 1000 Guineas before winning the Epsom Oaks and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Keeneland in the US.
 | This Irish horse racing biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |