The Tattersalls Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile, 2 furlongs and 110 yards, and it is scheduled to take place each year in May.
The Irish Oaks is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in July.
The Moyglare Stud Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 7 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in late August or early September.
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. He is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest horse racing trainers of all time.
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.
The Athasi Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres) at the Curragh in early May.
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.
Misty for Me is an Irish champion Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She won three of her five starts as a two-year-old including the Group One Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Prix Marcel Boussac, the most important races for two-year-old fillies in Ireland and France respectively. She was named European Champion Two-year old Filly at the Cartier Racing Awards. As a three-year-old she finished unplaced in both the 1000 Guineas and The Oaks but won the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Pretty Polly Stakes. In the latter race she defeated the leading British mare Midday by six lengths.
Godetia was an American-bred thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won two Irish Classic Races in 1979. Bred in Virginia, she was sold as a yearling and sent to race in Europe. As a two-year-old she showed promise when finishing second on her debut before winning her next race by twelve lengths. In 1979 she was unbeaten in four races in Ireland, taking the Athasi Stakes, Irish 1,000 Guineas, Pretty Polly Stakes and Irish Oaks, but ran poorly when sent to England for The Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks. She returned to race in the United States as a four-year-old but failed to make any impact in three races. As a broodmare she had some success but produced no major winners.
Qualify is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. On 5 June 2015 she was a 50/1 winner of The Oaks. She ran seven times as a juvenile in 2014, winning a maiden race and the Group Three C. L. Weld Park Stakes but was well-beaten when tried against the best fillies of her generation in the Moyglare Stud Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. In the spring of 2015 she was initially disappointing as she finished unplaced in both the 1000 Guineas and the Irish 1,000 Guineas before being stepped up in distance and winning the Oaks.
Dance Design is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She competed in five different countries and won seven times from nineteen starts in a track career which lasted from August 1995 to November 1998.
Wayne Lordan is a multiple Group race-winning Irish jockey.
Roly Poly is an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2016 she won three of her eight races including the Grangecon Stud Stakes and the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes as well as finishing second in the Cheveley Park Stakes and the Lowther Stakes. In the following year she proved herself to be a top-class performer over one mile, recording Group 1 victories in the Falmouth Stakes, Prix Rothschild and Sun Chariot Stakes and running second in both the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Coronation Stakes.
Hydrangea is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. She spent much of her early career being overshadowed by her more illustrious stablemates Rhododendron and Winter. In August 2017 she defeated an exceptionally strong field to win the Matron Stakes and went on to take the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes.
Iridessa is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2018 she was one of the best fillies of her generation in Europe, winning the Group 1 Fillies' Mile. In the following year she was beaten in her first three races but then recorded further major win in the Pretty Polly Stakes, Matron Stakes, and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.
Magical is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who excelled over middle distances and was rated in the top twenty racehorses in the world in 2018 and 2019. She showed considerable ability as a juvenile in 2017, winning the Debutante Stakes and finishing second in the Moyglare Stud Stakes as well as running fourth in both the Prix Marcel Boussac and the Fillies' Mile. In the following year she won the Kilboy Estate Stakes but did not produce her best form until autumn when she took the British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes and was narrowly beaten in the Breeders' Cup Turf. In 2019 she won the Alleged Stakes, Mooresbridge Stakes, Tattersalls Gold Cup, Irish Champion Stakes and Champion Stakes as well as finishing second in the Prince of Wales's Stakes, Eclipse Stakes and Yorkshire Oaks. As a five-year-old she was as good as ever, winning the Pretty Polly Stakes and recording repeat victories in the Tattersalls Gold Cup and the Irish Champion Stakes as well as being placed in the International Stakes, Champion Stakes, Breeders' Cup Turf and Hong Kong Cup.
Diamondsandrubies is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. After failing to win on her only start as a two-year-old in 2014 she improved to become a top-class performer in the following year. She won a minor race on her seasonal debut and went on to win the Cheshire Oaks before finishing an unlucky fourth in the Epsom Oaks. She recorded her biggest success on her next start when she took the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes, but failed to reproduce that form in three subsequent races and was retired from the track at the end of the year.
Nezwaah is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. Unraced as a two-year-old she showed promising form as a three-year-old when she won three races including the Listed Hoppings Stakes. She reached her peak in the first half of the 2017 season when she won the Rothesay Stakes before recording her biggest victory in the Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes. She raced in five countries, namely England, Ireland, France, Canada and the United States.
Tarnawa is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. After failing to win in three starts as a two-year-old in 2018 she improved in the following year to win four races including the Blue Wind Stakes, Give Thanks Stakes and Blandford Stakes. She returned in 2020 to win a second Give Thanks Stakes before taking the Prix Vermeille, Prix de l'Opera and Breeders' Cup Turf.
Liam Ward was an Irish jockey who competed in flat racing. He was Irish flat racing Champion Jockey six times and rode for leading trainers Paddy Prendergast and Vincent O'Brien. He was particularly noted for riding two of O'Brien's champions, Sir Ivor and Nijinsky, in all their races in Ireland.
