Irish Champions Weekends
/Prize-money boost and “free entry scheme” for Longines Irish Champions Weekend
Building on the success of last year, total prize-money for the 2015 Longines Irish Champions Weekend has been increased to €4.03 million. The Group 1 QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday, September 12th remains one of the highest-rated races on the international calendar and will be worth €1.1 million in 2015, an increase of €100,000 on last year. The total prize money on offer at Leopardstown on the opening day of Longines Irish Champions Weekend will be €2.13 million.
Three races at the Curragh on Sunday, September 13th have also been raised in value. The Derrinstown Stud Flying Five will be run as a Group 2 race for the first time and its prize fund has been doubled from €100,000 to €200,000. The value of the Group 1 Palmerstown House Estate Irish St. Leger has increased from €300,000 to €350,000 and the Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sale Stakes also rises by €50,000 to €250,000. The total prize-money at the Curragh has risen by €200,000 to €1.9 million.
Four valuable premier handicaps will be run over the course of Longines Irish Champions Weekend. It is certainly a weekend of high-class racing action which will cater for all. Each of the handicap races boasts a value of €150,000 and will be run over six, seven, ten and twelve furlongs respectively.
Longines Irish Champions Weekend is, in effect, the first leg of a European Triple Crown of championship meetings, leading into the QATAR Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe meeting at Longchamp in early October and QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot two weeks later.
What’s more, a series of races have been included in the ‘Longines Irish Champions Weekend Free Entry Scheme’ where the winning horses will be entitled to a refund equivalent to the total cost of running for a horse which had been entered at the initial entry stage, should they run in designated races on Longines Irish Champions Weekend.
Valuable and prestigious races in their own right, the additional bonus of free entry for Longines Irish Champions Weekend makes them all the more enticing:
RACE DATE QUALIFIER RACE FREE ENTRY FOR
6th August Ballyroan Stakes (Gp 3) 3yo+ 12f - Palmerstown House Estate Irish St Leger (Gp 1)
7th August El Gran Senor (L) 2yo 71/2f - John Deere Juvenile Turf Stakes (Gp 3)
7th August Abergwaun Stakes (L) 3yo+ 5f - Derrinstown Stud Flying Five Stakes (Gp 2)
12th August Hurry Harriet Stakes (L) 3yo+ 91/2f - Moyglare “Jewels” Blandford Stakes (Gp 2)
13th August Desmond Stakes (Gp 3) 3yo+ 8f - Clipper Logistics Boomerang Stakes (Gp 2)
22nd August Renaissance Stakes (Gp3) 3yo+ 6f - Derrinstown Stud Flying Five Stakes (Gp 2)
23rd August Debutante Stakes (Gp 2) 2yo 7f - Moyglare Stud Stakes (Gp 1)
23rd August Futurity Stakes (Gp 2) 2yo 7f - Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes (Gp 1)
23rd August Royal Whip Stakes (Gp 3) 3yo+ 10f - QIPCO Irish Champions Stakes (Gp 1)
23rd August Irish St Leger Trial Stakes (Gp 3) 3yo+ 14f - Palmerstown House Estate Irish St Leger (Gp 1)
27th August Fairy Bridge Stakes (Gp 3) 3yo+ 71/2f - Coolmore Matron Stakes (Gp 1)
30th August Dance Design Stakes (Gp 3) 3yo+ 9f - Moyglare “Jewels” Blandford Stakes (Gp 2)