Irish Derby Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

Delve into the Irish Derby at the Curragh Racecourse with a detailed preview highlighting past winners, successful trainers, leading jockeys, and key trends. This guide offers valuable insights to help you understand what it takes to win this classic contest.
Irish Derby Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2025 Irish Derby Preview

Established in 1866, the Irish Derby is a Group 1 race run at the Curragh in Ireland, open to three-year-old colts and fillies the race is scheduled to take place in June each year. The race is run over one mile and four furlongs and each runner carries nine stones except for fillies who get a three-pound allowance.

The race is the Irish equivalent of the Epsom Derby and is usually run about three weeks after the English version. The English - Irish Derby double has been completed numerous times, a total of nineteen runners have now completed the double including Auguste Rodin in 2023.

Irish Derby Information:

Why not use the trends shortlist below to help you narrow down the field and then head over to the dedicated Curragh tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG expert racing tipsters to find yourself a bet? You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information. Head down to the Other Principal Races at Curragh Racecourse section for links to these.

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How competitive is the Irish Derby market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2024 when the race had an over-round of 110%. The race in 2013 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 124%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Irish Derby, the over-round has been 118%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £118 which is bet.

Below you will find the 2025 Irish Derby Trends. See which patterns have occurred over the recent renewals that you may be able to use for the next renewal. We also have a section that looks at the Irish Derby Trend Analysis.

These are the top three quickest-run Irish Derby races over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Trading Leather (2:27.17) in 2013
  2. Los Angeles (2:28.15) in 2024
  3. Cape Blanco (2:28.68) in 2010

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? Over the past 20 renewals, if you had followed the winner of the Irish Derby next time out, then you would have backed a total of 7 winners. Backing all 20 runners who have been out since their win at SP next time out would have returned an LSP of -3.80. Whilst we wait for the 2025 Irish Derby, remember you can get daily racing predictions from the expert tipsters on the racing predictions page.

The runner that holds the record over the past 20 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2012 renewal when Camelot from A P O'Brien under the guidance of Joseph O'Brien, won in a time of 2:43.96, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Trading Leather, trained by J S Bolger and ridden by Kevin Manning set the quickest time of 2:27.17 in the 2013 renewal.

What the expert says...
Fifteen of the last nineteen winners of the Irish Derby came having run in the Epsom Derby last time out including all of the last four winners. Only four of those fifteen did the double with the last being Auguste Rodin in 2023.

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Irish Derby Past Winners

Here are the Irish Derby past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won, along with the age & weight of the horse. Also detailed is the stall where the horse came from and the total number of runners in the race. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Irish Derby are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorse (Drawn)Info
2024 (1.15m)
2:28.15
Los Angeles (IRE)
3yo 9-2 (3 of 8) 13/8
Ryan Moore
A P O'Brien (IRE)
2023 (1.15m)
2:33.24
Auguste Rodin (IRE)
3yo 9-2 (1 of 9) 4/11F
Ryan Moore
A P O'Brien (IRE)
2022 (920k)
2:34.80
Westover (GB)
3yo 9-2 (5 of 8) 11/8F
Colin Keane
Ralph Beckett (GB)
2021 (920k)
2:33.85
Hurricane Lane (IRE)
3yo 9-2 (3 of 11) 4/1
William Buick
Charlie Appleby (GB)
2020 (690k)
2:38.17
Santiago (IRE)
3yo 9-2 (11 of 14) 2/1F
Seamie Heffernan
A P O'Brien (IRE)
2019 (1.38m)
2:31.50
Sovereign (IRE)
3yo 9-0 (2 of 8) 33/1
P B Beggy
A P O'Brien (IRE)
2018 (1.38m)
2:32.62
Latrobe (IRE)
3yo 9-0 (8 of 12) 14/1
Donnacha O'Brien
Joseph Patrick O'Brien (IRE)
2017 (1.38m)
2:35.45
Capri (IRE)
3yo 9-0 (1 of 9) 6/1
Seamie Heffernan
A P O'Brien (IRE)
2016 (1.38m)
2:38.05
Harzand (IRE)
3yo 9-0 (2 of 9) 4/6F
Pat Smullen
D K Weld (IRE)
2015 (1.15m)
2:34.93
Jack Hobbs (GB)
3yo 9-0 (2 of 8) 10/11F
William Buick
John Gosden (GB)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Irish Derby have been based:

  • IRE: 16 winners with an additional 30 placings from 146 runners
  • GB: 3 winners with an additional 7 placings from 34 runners
  • FR: 1 winner with an additional 1 placing from 8 runners

Irish Derby Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Irish Derby over the last 20 renewals is A P O'Brien, who has won the race thirteen times, with those thirteen winners coming from Dylan Thomas (2006), Soldier Of Fortune (2007), Frozen Fire (2008), Fame And Glory (2009), Cape Blanco (2010), Treasure Beach (2011), Camelot (2012), Australia (2014), Capri (2017), Sovereign (2019), Santiago (2020), Auguste Rodin (2023) and Los Angeles (2024).

Here are some of the top Irish Derby trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
A P O'Brien79-13-35+10.55+26.87
J S Bolger14-1-2-7.00-5.60
D K Weld11-1-2-9.33-8.70
Joseph Patrick O'Brien5-1-1+10.00+4.40
John Gosden4-1-2-2.09-1.65
A Fabre4-1-2-2.20-1.47
Charlie Appleby2-1-1+3.00+1.40
Ralph Beckett1-1-1+1.38+0.83
Donnacha Aidan O'Brien4-0-1-4.00-1.70
Sir Michael Stoute4-0-2-4.00-2.00

Irish Derby Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Irish Derby over the last 20 renewals is Seamie Heffernan, who has won the race four times, with those four winners coming from Soldier Of Fortune (2007), Frozen Fire (2008), Capri (2017) and Santiago (2020). Other jockeys who have recorded multiple wins in the Irish Derby are Ryan Moore (2 wins) and William Buick (2 wins).

Here are some of the top Irish Derby jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Seamie Heffernan18-4-10+15.00+16.60
Ryan Moore12-2-7-8.01-5.51
William Buick5-2-2+1.91-0.05
Colin Keane4-1-1-1.62-2.17
Wayne Lordan9-0-1-9.00-7.60
Declan McDonogh8-0-1-8.00+0.50
Ronan Whelan4-0-2-4.00+1.30
Chris Hayes4-0-0-4.00-4.00
Gavin Ryan3-0-1-3.00-0.70
Frankie Dettori3-0-1-3.00-1.95

Irish Derby Trend Analysis

✅ The trend factor, which has produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +17.01, is when runners ran at Epsom last time out.

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 0 starts in the past 30 days, when backing these, the trend shows a record of 0-37.

Here are the most recent winning draws, along with the further placings in brackets:

  • 2024: Winner in 3 (8,6) [8 Runners]
  • 2023: Winner in 1 (3,6) [9 Runners]
  • 2022: Winner in 5 (2,8) [8 Runners]
  • 2021: Winner in 3 (8,11) [11 Runners]
  • 2020: Winner in 11 (2,10) [14 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the Irish Derby is Epsom; there have been a total of 15 winners of this race who ran at Epsom last time out.

The race is open to both sexes, with the Male runners having produced a total of 20 winners from a total of 185 runners, whilst the Female runners have produced 0 winners from a total of 3 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Irish Derby:

  • Galileo (6 Wins)
  • Montjeu (4 Wins)
  • Camelot (2 Wins)
  • Frankel (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Irish Derby despite multiple attempts:

  • Sadlers Wells (0 Wins from 10 runners)
  • Dubawi (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Sovereign in 2019, winning for A P O'Brien at odds of 33/1 under the guidance of P B Beggy. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals, there have been 10 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find a bet on the 2025 Irish Derby.

Route to the Irish Derby

Many trainers will target races to use as prep races before coming to the Irish Derby, these are the races which the recent winners ran in before coming here:

InfoLast Race
2024 - Los Angeles
Epsom - 3rd of 16 (6/1)
Epsom Derby
2023 - Auguste Rodin
Epsom - 1st of 14 (9/2)
Epsom Derby
2022 - Westover
Epsom - 3rd of 17 (25/1)
Epsom Derby
2021 - Hurricane Lane
Epsom - 3rd of 11 (6/1)
Epsom Derby
2020 - Santiago
Ascot - 1st of 8 (10/3)
Queens Vase
2019 - Sovereign
Epsom - 10th of 13 (50/1)
Epsom Derby
2018 - Latrobe
Curragh - 1st of 6 (1/6)
Brady Burns Insurance Brokers Supporting June Fest Maiden
2017 - Capri
Epsom - 6th of 18 (16/1)
Epsom Derby
2016 - Harzand
Epsom - 1st of 16 (13/2)
Epsom Derby
2015 - Jack Hobbs
Epsom - 2nd of 12 (4/1)
Epsom Derby

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Irish Derby Preview are at hand, Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for International racing.

James Banting

James Banting

Tipster Competition Assistant

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing analyst with over 15 years of experience, delves into the intricacies of international horse racing, meticulously analyzing complex statistical data to uncover hidden trends. He spearheads the creation and management of OLBG's international horse racing trend blogs, providing valuable insights for bettors worldwide.

Other Principal races at Curragh Racecourse

Here are some other notable races at the Curragh racecourse throughout the racing season that you may be interested in.

Races in March

Races in May (Irish Guineas Festival)

Races in July

Races in August

Races in September (Irish Champions Weekend)

Races in October

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