DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH DERBY GROUP 1

The highlight of the Irish flat racing season, Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby is one of the great race days in global horse racing

June 26th is Irish Derby Day!

The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby Weekend is three days of top quality racing showcasing the best that Ireland has to offer. The iconic festival is one of Ireland’s biggest social and sporting occasions, a whirl of music, dancing, fashion and racing that attracts some of the world’s top horses and jockeys. 

Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby History

The Irish Derby is the third and most important Irish Classic and Group 1 of the Flat season. Run over a distance of one mile and four furlongs at the Curragh, it is open to three-year-old colts and fillies. Many horses which have previously contested the 2,000 Guineas in Ireland, England and France and the English and French Derbies traditionally come to the Curragh for the Irish Derby.

The first running of the Irish Derby took place in 1866 and was won by the English raider Selim who struck for trainer Tom Cliff after accounting for just two rivals. Cliff supplied the winner again the following year and to date English raiders have enjoyed 53 victories in the race. From 1866 until 1871 the Irish Derby was run over a mile and three quarters before reverting to its present distance. The first horse to complete the Epsom-Irish Derby double was Orby – the first Irish-trained winner of the Epsom race – in 1907. After its prizemoney was substantially increased in 1962 (when it was first run as the Irish Sweeps Derby), the race began to attract stronger fields and in 1964 Santa Claus became the second dual Derby winner. Thus far a total of 18 horses have won both the Epsom and Irish Derbys.

Epsom and Irish Derby winners:

• Orby (1907)
• Santa Claus (1964)
• Nijinsky (1970)
• Grundy (1975)
• The Minstrel (1977)
• Shirley Heights (1978)
• Troy (1979)
• Shergar (1981)
•  Shahrastani (1986)
• Kahyasi (1988)
• Generous (1991)
• Commander In Chief (1993)
• Sinndar (2000)
• Galileo (2001)
• High Chaparral (2002)
• Camelot (2012)
•  Australia (2014)  
•  Harzand (2016)

There have been two dead heats in the Irish Derby. Haine and Zodiac were inseparable in 1924 and ten years later the honours were shared between two more English runners in Patriot King and Primero. Easily the biggest surprise in the race’s history came in 1954 when Zarathustra sprang a 50/1 surprise for Michael Hurley and Paddy Powell. Subsequently Zarathustra won the Irish St. Leger and he proved himself an outstanding stayer in the coming years with his victories headed by the 1957 Ascot Gold Cup. The largest Irish Derby field went to post in 1962 when Tambourine II defeated 23 rivals to become the first French-trained winner of a race whose prizemoney had increased sevenfold on 1961. There have been seven more French-trained winners since then with the last coming when Hurricane Run prevailed in 2005.

Curragh Press Release and Photo