Irish 1000 Guineas: Dates, runners, history and more

The Irish 1000 Guineas is a Group 1 flat horse race open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is one of the five Irish Classics and is run over the distance of a mile at the Curragh in County Kildare.

Irish 1000 Guineas date

The 1000 Guineas is scheduled for Sunday 26th May and is the feature race on the final day of the three-day Tattersalls Irish Guineas Festival.

Irish 1000 Guineas venue

The Curragh stages the Irish 1000 Guineas and is one of Ireland's best-known tracks. It is also the home of the four other Irish Classics - the Irish 2000 Guineas, the Irish Derby, Irish Oaks and Irish St Leger - and, in total, 10 of the 12 Group 1 races in Ireland are run at the Curragh.

The first recorded horse racing took place there in 1727 but it is thought racing was held at the Curragh for some time before then.

It is a right-handed horseshoe-shaped track, known for its tough uphill finish, and meetings are held there regularly between March and October during the Irish Flat season.

Irish 1000 Guineas how to watch

The race can be viewed via the bet365 live sports streaming service while viewers in Britain can also watch the action from the Curragh on Racing TV.

Irish 1000 Guineas details

The prestigious race is Ireland's equivalent of the 1000 Guineas and usually takes place three weeks after the big Newmarket contest. 

The field tends to include horses that have taken part in the English version and runners who do well in the Irish 1000 Guineas then often enter the Coronation Stakes later in the year at Royal Ascot.

This year some of the early possible contenders for the race include One Look, Fallen Angel, Ylang Ylang, Dance Sequence and Content.

The Irish 1000 Guineas is the main event on the third and final day of the Curragh's Tattersalls Irish Guineas Festival, but other big races on Sunday 26th May are the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup and the Heider Family Stable Gallinule Stakes, which is a Group 3 race.

Irish 1000 Guineas history

The first running of the Irish 1000 Guineas was in 1922 and was won by Lady Violette. 

The race was launched a year after the first Irish 2000 Guineas and four fillies have done the English 1000 Guineas/Irish 1000 Guineas double - Attraction in 2004, Finsceal Beo in 2007, Winter in 2017 and Hermosa in 2019.

Hermosa's winning time of 1:35.07seconds is the fastest recorded in the race in the past 20 years and last year Tahiyra was the victor, finishing ahead of Meditate and Comhra.

Irish 1000 Guineas most successful trainer

Aidan O'Brien has won the race the most, triumphing 10 times in total. He first tasted victory in the Irish 1000 Guineas with Classic Park in 1997 then won it with Imagine in 2001 and Yesterday in 2003.

Halfway To Heaven was his next victor in 2008, Misty For Me came home first in 2011, before Marvellous (2014), Winter (2017), Hermosa (2019), Peaceful (2020) and Empress Josephine (2021) all also won for the renowned Ballydole-based trainer.

Irish 1000 Guineas most successful jockey

Morny Wing's seven victories mean he is the jockey with the most Irish 1000 Guineas wins, with all of them coming in the first 25 years of the race being staged.

Wing was on board the first-ever winner Lady Violette in 1922 and then followed up with victories on Glenshesk in 1923, Spiral in 1931 and Sol Speranza in 1937.

His last three successes came in the 1940s when he rode Gainsworth in the race in 1940, Panastrid in 1945 and finally Sea Symphony in 1947.

Irish 1000 Guineas famous winners

There have been many famous winners of the Irish 1000 Guineas, including Sonic Lady (1986), Kooyonga (1991) and Ridgewood Pearl (1995), while Aidan O'Brien's memorable triumphs with Marvellous in 2014, Winter in 2017 and Hermosa in 2019 are all worthy of a mention.

The last horse to win the Irish 1000 Guineas and then go on to take the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot was Alpha Centauri in 2018 when the Jessica Harrington-trained filly enjoyed a stellar year, winning four consecutive Group 1 races as she also took the Falmouth Stakes and Jacques Le Marois.