Northfields Handicap Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends (Irish Champions Weekend)

2025 Northfields Handicap Preview

Scheduled to take place in September of each year at the Curragh Racecourse is the Northfields Handicap, this Premier Handicap takes place on Irish Champions Weekend where runners aged three or older contest over a distance of one mile and two furlongs.

Northfields Handicap Information:

• Northfields Handicap Past Winners
• Northfields Handicap Trainer Statistics
• Northfields Handicap Jockey Statistics

To see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are tipping throughout the card that includes this race, head over to the Curragh tips on the day of the race, do they agree with the runners on the trend shortlist or are they predicting other runners? 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 Northfields Handicap market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 11 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2024 when the race had an over-round of 126%. The race in 2016 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 159%, whilst on average over the last 11 renewals of the Northfields Handicap, the over-round has been 136%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £136 which is bet.

Northfields Handicap Trends:

• 2025 Northfields Handicap Trends
• Northfields Handicap Trend Analysis

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 11 if you had followed the winner of the Northfields Handicap next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 11 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -1.60. Before placing your bet on the 2025 Northfields Handicap see which other runners today are being backed on the racing predictions page.

The runner that holds the record over the past 11 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2014 renewal when Assign from A P O'Brien under the guidance of Colm O'Donoghue, won in a time of 2:33.85, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, This Songisforyou, trained by Emmet Mullins and ridden by Colin Keane set the quickest time of 2:06.27 in the 2024 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Northfields Handicap over the last 11 renewals:

1. This Songisforyou (2:06.27) in 2024
2. Crystal Black (2:07.39) in 2023
3. One Cool Poet (2:09.15) in 2019

Northfields Handicap Past Winners

Here are the Northfields Handicap 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 Northfields Handicap 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 Northfields Handicap have been based:

• IRE: 11 winners with an additional 29 placings from 204 runners
• GB: 0 winners with an additional 1 placing from 8 runners

Northfields Handicap Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Northfields Handicap over the last 11 renewals is J P Murtagh who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from Sonnyboyliston (2020) and Kerkiyra (2022). Multiple trainers have not had the best of times over the last 11 renewals in the Northfields Handicap, M Halford (0-16), D K Weld (0-14), Mrs John Harrington (0-12), G M Lyons (0-12) and Adrian McGuinness (0-11) have all failed to produce a single winner despite sending multiple runners to the race.

Here are some of the top Northfields Handicap trainer statistics over the last 11 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):

Northfields Handicap Jockey Statistics

There are two leading jockeys in the Northfields Handicap over the last 11 renewals with both Colin Keane and W J Lee who have both won the race two times. Colin Keane winners have been with Crystal Black (2023) and This Songisforyou (2024). W J Lee winners have been with One Cool Poet (2019) and Sonnyboyliston (2020).

Here are some of the top Northfields Handicap jockey statistics over the last 11 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):

Northfields Handicap Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 6+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +14.50 is when runners had 1 career win at the track. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner was when runners were aged 4, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-64.

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

• 2024: Winner in 4 (11,1) [14 Runners]
• 2023: Winner in 22 (23,15,12) [22 Runners]
• 2022: Winner in 26 (7,1,20) [22 Runners]
• 2021: Winner in 15 (14,29,6) [23 Runners]
• 2020: Winner in 5 (7,4,15) [22 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the Northfields Handicap is Curragh, there has been a total number of 4 winners of this race who ran at Curragh last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 7 winners from a total of 176 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 4 winners from a total of 36 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Northfields Handicap, that stallion Fastnet Rock has produced 2 winners (2018,2015).

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

• Galileo (0 Wins from 6 runners)
• Kodiac (0 Wins from 6 runners)
• Camelot (0 Wins from 5 runners)
• Holy Roman Emperor (0 Wins from 5 runners)
• Mastercraftsman (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 11 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Maudlin Magdalen in 2016, winning for Donal Kinsella at odds of 25/1 under the guidance of Sean Davis. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 11 renewals there have been 2 winning favourites in the race. Whilst we wait for the 2025 Northfields Handicap remember you can get daily racing predictions from the top racing tipsters on the best racing tipsters page.

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.