Michael J. Kinane is an Irish former flat racing jockey. He had a 34-year career, retiring on 8 December 2009.
The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards, about 1½ miles, and it is scheduled to take place each year in late May or early June. It is the second-oldest of the five Classic races, after the St Leger. Officially the Betfred Oaks, it is also popularly known as simply The Oaks. It has increasingly come to be referred to as the Epsom Oaks in both the UK and overseas countries, although 'Epsom' is not part of the official title of the race.)
Secreto (1981–1999) was a Maryland-bred Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that consisted of only four races, he won three times. His most important success came in June 1984 when he won the Derby.
Aidan Patrick O'Brien is an Irish horse racing trainer. Since 1996, he has been the private trainer at Ballydoyle Stables near Rosegreen in County Tipperary for John Magnier and his Coolmore Stud associates.
Michael Vincent O'Brien was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the Racing Post. In earlier Racing Post polls he was voted the best ever trainer of national hunt and of flat racehorses. He trained six horses to win the Epsom Derby, won three Grand Nationals in succession and trained the only British Triple Crown winner, Nijinsky, since the Second World War. He was twice British champion trainer in flat racing and also twice in national hunt racing; the only trainer in history to have been champion under both rules. Aidan O'Brien took over the Ballydoyle stables after his retirement.
André Fabre is a French thoroughbred horse racing trainer.
John Leeper Dunlop was an English race horse trainer based in Arundel, Sussex. He trained the winners of 74 Group One races, including 10 British Classics, with over 3000 winners in total. He was the British flat racing Champion Trainer in 1995.
Barry Hills is a retired British thoroughbred horse trainer. He lives in Lambourn, England.
Ray Cochrane is a retired Northern Irish horse racing jockey and current sports agent.
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.
James S. Bolger is a thoroughbred racehorse trainer and breeder based in Coolcullen in County Kilkenny. For many years, he has been recognised as one of the racing greats in Ireland. Aidan O'Brien, Tony McCoy and Paul Carberry were all apprenticed to him before gaining professional recognition in their own right.
Greville Michael Wilson Starkey was an English jockey who rode almost 2,000 winners during a 33-year career on the flat.
Geoff Lewis is a Welsh retired jockey who was born in Talgarth, Breconshire.
Assert was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a two-year-old he was beaten by Golden Fleece on his debut but went on to win the Beresford Stakes. In the following year he won four Group One races: the French Derby, Irish Derby, Benson & Hedges Gold Cup and Joe McGrath Memorial Stakes. He was rated the best middle-distance horse in Europe in 1982 by Timeform. He was retired to stud at the end of his three-year-old season and became a successful sire of winners.
James Anthony "Seamie" Heffernan is an Irish flat racing jockey who rides mainly for 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.
Jet Ski Lady was an American-bred, Irish-trained thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning The Oaks in 1991. In a racing career which lasted from June 1990 to October 1991 the filly ran ten times and won four races. After winning twice as a two-year-old, Jet Ski Lady competed against colts with mixed success in early 1991 before winning the Classic Oaks over one and a half miles at Epsom Downs Racecourse. Her winning margin of ten lengths was the second-widest in the race's history and her starting price of 50/1 made her the equal longest-priced winner of the Oaks on record. She subsequently finished second in both the Irish Oaks at the Curragh and the Yorkshire Oaks at York. She was retired to stud after finishing unplaced in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
The 1985 Epsom Derby was the 206th annual running of the Derby horse race. It took place at Epsom Downs Racecourse on 5 June 1985.
Sarah Siddons was a French-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. She was a well-bred mare, being descended from a half-sister of the outstanding Irish racehorse Ragusa. As a two-year-old in 1975 she showed promise when winning her only race of the season. In the following year she was rated the best three-year-old filly trained in the British Isles in a division which was otherwise dominated by French-trained horses. She recorded Group One wins in the Irish 1,000 Guineas and Yorkshire Oaks, as well as finishing second to Lagunette in both the Irish Oaks and the Prix Vermeille. She failed to win as a four-year-old, but became a very successful broodmare.
The 1984 Epsom Derby was the 205th annual running of the Derby horse race. It took place at Epsom Downs Racecourse on 6 June 1984. It was the first edition of the race to be commercially sponsored and was known as the Ever Ready Derby. The sponsorship meant that the first prize of £227,680 was the biggest in the history of the race.
The following list shows the line of descent for major winners from the Northern Dancer sire line, tracking patrilineal descent from the stallion dubbed by the New York Times in 1990 "the dominant progenitor of his breed". It focuses on winners of the principal three-year-old Classic races, as these have long been used to evaluate a stallion's success, and the highest quality races for older horses based on International Federation of Horseracing Authorities rankings. A few other highly prestigious races from around the world have been included as well.
