The Vincent O'Brien National Stakes is a horse race at The Curragh racecourse in Ireland.
National Stakes may also refer to the following horse races:
Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt races and one Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Stakes. It regularly has horse racing during afternoons, evenings and on weekends, and also hosts many non racing events such as trade shows, wedding fairs, toy fairs, car shows and auctions, property shows, concerts, and even some private events. It was requisitioned by the War Department from 1940-1945 for World War II. The venue has hosted bands such as UB40, Madness, Girls Aloud, Spandau Ballet and Simply Red. The racecourse is close to Esher railway station served by trains from London Waterloo. There is a secondary exit from Esher station which is open on race days, this exit leads directly into the racecourse and Lower Green, Esher.
Kempton Park Racecourse is a horse racing track together with a licensed entertainment and conference venue in Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, England, near the border with Greater London; it is 16 miles south-west of Charing Cross in central London. The site has 210 acres of flat grassland surrounded by woodland with two lakes in its centre. Its entrance borders Kempton Park railway station which was created for racegoers on a branch line from London Waterloo, via Clapham Junction.
Leopardstown Racecourse is an Irish horse-racing venue, located in Leopardstown, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of the Dublin city centre. Like the majority of Irish courses, it hosts both National Hunt and Flat racing.
George Washington was a thoroughbred racehorse foaled in Ireland by champion sire Danehill out of Bordighera. Bred by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, he was trained at Ballydoyle by Aidan O'Brien and owned by Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith. The horse won two Group One races in Britain in 2006 before being sent to stud, where he suffered fertility problems. He was brought back to racing in 2007 but suffered a dislocated ankle fracture during the Breeders' Cup Classic at Monmouth Park on 27 October 2007 and was euthanised. The horse was nicknamed 'Gorgeous George' by his followers.
Singspiel was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for a series of wins in major international races in 1996 and 1997. In a racing career which lasted from September 1994 until August 1997 he won nine of his twenty races and finished second on eight occasions. After showing good, but unexceptional form in his first two seasons he emerged as a world class performer in 1996 when he won the Canadian International Stakes and Japan Cup and was named U.S. Champion Male Turf Horse. In the following season he added victories in the Dubai World Cup, Coronation Cup and International Stakes before his career was ended by injury. After his retirement from racing he had considerable success as a sire of winners before his death in 2010.
Refuse To Bend was a Thoroughbred racehorse and sire.
Ian Balding is a retired British horse trainer. He is the son of the polo player and racehorse trainer Gerald Matthews Balding and the younger brother of trainer Toby Balding. Ian Balding was born in the US, but his family returned to the UK in 1945. He was educated at Marlborough College and Millfield school in Somerset. He went up to Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1959 to read Rural Estate Management, where he played Rugby for the university team, gaining his Blue in 1961 at full back. He started training in 1964. Kingsclere became his home at the age of 26 and it is here that earned his reputation as an internationally respected trainer.
Bustino was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from August 1973 until July 1975, he ran nine times and won five races. He was the best British three-year-old of 1974, when his wins included the Classic St Leger, as well as the Sandown Classic Trial, Lingfield Derby Trial and Great Voltigeur Stakes. As a four-year-old he won the Coronation Cup in record time and finished second to Grundy in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in what is often described as the 'Race of the Century'.
Red Rocks was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse.
Commanche Run (1981–2005) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He was a versatile top-class colt who won a number of Group One races at from one and a quarter to one and three-quarter miles in the 1980s.
Shantou was a classic-winning Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a three-year old in 1996 he won the St. Leger and the Gran Premio del Jockey Club as well as finishing third in the Epsom Derby and fourth in the Breeders' Cup Turf. In the following year he won the Gran Premio di Milano and the Princess of Wales's Stakes. After his retirement from racing he had success as a sire of National Hunt horses.
Encke was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes at Doncaster Racecourse on 15 September 2012 when he defeated the Triple Crown bid of Camelot. In spring of 2013 Encke was banned from racing after failing a drug test. He returned to racing in 2014 and was placed in three races including the Irish St. Leger. He sustained a fatal injury in training in October 2014.
Aurelius was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1961 and for becoming one of the few classic winners to compete in steeplechases. As a two-year-old he finished fourth in his only appearance but was one of the best colts in Britain in the following year, winning the Craven Stakes and the King Edward VII Stakes before taking the St Leger. He was even better in 1962 when he won the Hardwicke Stakes and was narrowly beaten in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He was retired to stud but had serious fertility problems and later returned to the racecourse where he had a reasonably successful career in National Hunt racing.
Derring-Do was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was one of the leading British two-year-olds of 1963 when he won two of his three races including the Cornwallis Stakes. In the next two seasons, he developed into a top class racehorse over distances between seven and ten furlongs with his most important wins coming in the Hungerford Stakes, Valdoe Stakes, and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He was retired to stud at the end of his four-year-old season and became a successful breeding stallion.
Kingman is a champion British Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2014 European Horse of the Year after winning the Irish 2000 Guineas, St. James's Palace Stakes, Sussex Stakes, and Prix Jacques le Marois
Golden Horn is a champion British Thoroughbred racehorse who was the 2015 European Horse of the Year after winning the Epsom Derby, Arc de Triomphe, Irish Champion Stakes, Eclipse Stakes, and coming second in the Breeders' Cup Turf.
Jack Hobbs is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. After winning his only race as a juvenile, he established himself as a potentially top-class colt with a twelve length win in a race at Sandown on his three-year-old debut. He finished second to his stable companion Golden Horn in both the Dante Stakes and The Derby before winning the Irish Derby by five lengths. He ran twice more in 2015, winning the September Stakes before being beaten when favourite for the Champion Stakes. His 2016 season was badly disrupted by injury and he ran only twice, failing to complete his first start and being beaten on his eventual reappearance. However, he rebounded in 2017 by winning the Sheema Classic at Meydan Racecourse on Dubai World Cup Night.
Ulysses is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. As a three-year-old he showed very good form, winning the Gordon Stakes and finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Turf. He was even better in 2017 when he took the Gordon Richards Stakes and went on to record Group 1 victories in the Eclipse Stakes and the International Stakes.
Dick Turpin is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In three years of racing he won nine of his twenty races, showing consistent top-class form over distances of around one mile. As a two-year-old in 2009 he won the first four of his six races including the Richmond Stakes and the Tattersalls Ireland Sale Stakes. In the following year he won the Greenham Stakes and the Prix Jean Prat, finished second in the 2000 Guineas, Poule d'Essai des Poulains and St James's Palace Stakes and ran third in the Prix de la Forêt. As a four-year-old in 2011 he added victories in the Sandown Mile, Summer Mile Stakes and Premio Vittorio di Capua before being retired to stud at the end of the year.
Addeybb is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He excels over distances of around 2000 metres and is noted for his toughness, consistency and aptitude for racing on soft ground. He did not race as a two-year-old and as a three-year-old in 2017 he won three minor races from five starts before improving in the following year to win the Lincoln Handicap and the Sandown Mile. He made further progress in 2019 when he won the Wolferton Stakes and the Rose of Lancaster Stakes as well as finishing second in the Champion Stakes. As a six-year-old in 2020 he established himself as a world-class middle-distance performer, winning the Ranvet Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Australia before returning to Europe to win the Doonside Cup and the Champion Stakes.