National Stakes Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Irish Champions Weekend)

2025 National Stakes Preview

The National Stakes is currently named in honour of Vincent O'Brien, it is a Group 1 restricted to two-year-old fillies and colts and is run over a trip of seven furlongs.

The first renewal was way back in 1849 with the legendary trainer Vincent O'Brien winning the race no fewer than fifteen times between 1967 & 1992 which is why it is named in his honour.

National Stakes Information:

• National Stakes Past Winners
• National Stakes Trainer Statistics
• National Stakes Jockey Statistics

If you are interested in other predictions at Curragh then head over to the Curragh tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG racing tipsters and also compare those predictions to the runners that make the trend shortlist when added below. You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Races Covered during the Irish Champions Weekend section for links to these.

How competitive is the National Stakes market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2015 when the race had an over-round of 111%. The race in 2019 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 136%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the National Stakes, the over-round has been 116%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £116 which is bet.

National Stakes Trends:

• 2025 National Stakes Trends
• National Stakes Trend Analysis

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the National Stakes next time out then you would have backed a total of 9 winners. Backing all 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -0.76. Whilst we wait for the 2025 National Stakes 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 2008 renewal when Mastercraftsman from A P O'Brien under the guidance of Johnny Murtagh, won in a time of 1:37.59, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Pinatubo, trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick set the quickest time of 1:21.82 in the 2019 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run National Stakes over the last 20 renewals:

1. Pinatubo (1:21.82) in 2019
2. Toormore (1:22.67) in 2013
3. New Approach (1:23.50) in 2007

National Stakes Past Winners

Here are the National Stakes' 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 National Stakes are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the National Stakes have been based:

• IRE: 16 winners with an additional 21 placings from 118 runners
• GB: 4 winners with an additional 4 placings from 21 runners

National Stakes Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the National Stakes over the last 20 renewals is A P O'Brien who has won the race seven times with those seven winners coming from George Washington (2005), Mastercraftsman (2008), Power (2011), Gleneagles (2014), Air Force Blue (2015), Churchill (2016) and Henry Longfellow (2023). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the National Stakes are J S Bolger (4 wins), Joseph Patrick O'Brien (3 wins) and Charlie Appleby (3 wins).

Here are some of the top National Stakes 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):

National Stakes Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the National Stakes over the last 20 renewals is William Buick who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Quorto (2018), Pinatubo (2019) and Native Trail (2021). Other jockeys who have recorded multiple wins in the National Stakes are Ryan Moore (2 wins), Declan McDonogh (2 wins) and Dylan Browne McMonagle (2 wins).

Here are some of the top National Stakes 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):

National Stakes Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +3.24 is when runners ran over 7f on debut. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 1 career start over further, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-28.

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

• 2024: Winner in 1 (5,3) [8 Runners]
• 2023: Winner in 6 [4 Runners]
• 2022: Winner in 5 (6) [6 Runners]
• 2021: Winner in 7 (1) [7 Runners]
• 2020: Winner in 1 (10,6) [10 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the National Stakes is Curragh, there has been a total number of 15 winners of this race who ran at Curragh last time out.

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

• Galileo (4 Wins)
• Dubawi (2 Wins)
• Oasis Dream (2 Wins)

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have been disappointed with multiple attempts but no wins in the National Stakes, that stallion is Dansili who has failed to produce a winner from 5 runners.

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Scorthy Champ in 2024, winning for Joseph Patrick O'Brien at odds of 12/1 under the guidance of Dylan Browne McMonagle. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 10 winning favourites in the race. Ahead of the 2025 National Stakes why not head over to the best racing tipster page to see what the tipsters are backing today?

Races Covered during the Irish Champions Weekend

Here is the schedule for the two-day Irish Champions Weekend which is run at Leopardstown on Saturday and then the Curragh on Sunday for races which we cover with blogs, each race will be linked to the race blog and detail last year's winner in the table below.

Saturday at the Irish Champions Weekend

Leopardstown hosts the opening day of the Irish Champions Weekend, the highlight of the day being the Irish Champions Stakes, a race dominated by Aidan O'Brien in recent years with him winning all of the last five renewals and has won the race a total of twelve times.

Sunday at the Irish Champions Weekend

Sunday of the Irish Champions Weekend is hosted at the Curragh with four Group 1 races, the highlight being the Irish St Leger, Aidan has not been as dominant in this with just six wins, three behind both Vincent O'Brien and Dermot Weld.