‘NÍ bheidh a leitheid arís ann’ - ‘There will never be the likes of him again’ is a phrase often bandied about on a person’s passing, but it was fully warranted with regard to Kevin Prendergast.

Widely popular, tremendously successful, and undeniably shrewd, Prendergast may have been born into racing royalty as a son of ‘Darkie’ Prendergast, but he carved his own path and forged his own reputation. His sharp eyes never missed a trick, be it judging a horse or recruiting the perfect jockey to partner his recruits, enjoying unique success with riders from his birthplace of Australia.

His dapper attire and signature trilby weren’t the only characteristics that made Prendergast old school and his passing on June 20th was particularly sad for anyone rueing the diminishing brigade.

His good friend Jim Bolger is among his original colleagues still in operation, but 2025 marked a notable chapter with the consolidation of his bloodstock interests and putting Redmondstown Stud up for sale.

Bolger was the last trainer to sit second in the trainers’ table before Joseph O’Brien gained his tight grip on the runner-up spot in 2018. Bolger and Dermot Weld switched between second and third between 2010 and 2017, with John Oxx and Kevin Prendergast joining the fray in earlier years.

Reigning champion

The constant throughout has been champion trainer Aidan O’Brien, whose seven Group 1 wins on home soil this year contributed to his wide-margin lead in the trainers’ standings. Earnings of €7,199,980 was his largest haul since 2019 and almost double that of his nearest rival, son Joseph.

Aidan O’Brien also led by winners at 112, despite the master of Ballydoyle ending the season with 26% less runners than his son. Johnny Murtagh, who has progressed through the ranks in recent years, claimed a career-best third by earnings and wins, his strike rate of 42% yielding 55 victories.

Alakazi’s win in the Solonaway Stakes on Irish Champions Weekend also rewarded the Aga Khan Studs’ faith in Murtagh, with whom they had enjoyed so much success as a rider. Zahrann’s two stakes victories were other notable wins for the major owner/breeder operation who has remained loyal to Ireland, while similar operations have removed their horses to focus on the UK.

At a carefully curated 61%, Paddy Twomey boasted one of the highest strike rates of Irish flat trainers this year, despite his stable jockey Billy Lee missing a large part of the season due to injury. The Golden trainer notched 12 stakes wins during the year, as well as a Grade 2 bumper win with Seo Linn.

Joe Murphy went close to matching Twomey’s famed strike rate with a ratio of 60% winners to runners, but one imagines that, to his mind, the importance of statistics pales in comparison to the achievement of training Cercene to win the Coronation Stakes.

Raw material

Much was made of how Murphy picked up the subsequent Group 1 winner for €50,000, and doing well with affordable horses has become something of a trademark for Murphy.

His family-run yard lacks the Frankels and Wootton Bassetts of some trainers mentioned previously; at 75,000gns, group-placed juvenile Pivotal Attack was the most expensive of the 15 winners he trained in 2025.

Andy Slattery is another who has proven himself as both a good judge and trainer, and was rewarded with a career-best tally of 29 flat wins in 2025, bringing the yard’s earnings past €500,000 for the first time.

Adrian Murray doubled his tally of winners this year and shot to sixth in the trainers’ championship, with the skilled assistance of Robson Aguiar. After Aidan O’Brien, Murray was the only other trainer to win more than one Irish Group 1 in 2025, despite running less than half the number of horses as three of the top five trainers.

The team might be best associated with Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing, and therefore expensive purchases by default, but their first Group 1 winner of the year, Power Blue, did not debut in the purple silks, while Arizona Blaze was owned in partnership with Giselle de Aguiar, as was previous Group 1 scorer Bucanero Fuerte.

All eyes will be on Robson de Aguiar as he heads into his first full season with a trainers’ licence, having sent out his first runner in November. Power Blue has been transferred to his care and holds an entry in the Irish 2000 Guineas. Stablemates Blanc De Blanc and Persian Indigo, who cost a combined $1,050,000 as yearlings, both hold entries in the Irish 1000 Guineas and Irish Oaks.

Balantina is another Group/Grade 1-winning juvenile fuelling her trainer’s dreams over the winter and, along with the Group 1-placed Atsila and Havana Anna should hopefully distract from the retirement of stable star Porta Fortuna, who fetched 4,500,000gns earlier this month. An increase in runners helped Donnacha O’Brien reach new highs by winners and earnings, while maintaining his strike rate - something not all manage to do when scaling up.

THE Irish flat jockeys’ championship was one of the main storylines this year, beginning early in the season upon Colin Keane’s appointment as retained rider for Juddmonte, while injury kept Billy Lee off the track for two months from July.

As Keane’s new role increased travel to the UK, Lee got within three winners of the reigning champion when a fall at Limerick resulted in a broken collarbone for Lee, who subsequently required surgery.

Dylan Browne McMonagle was immediately presented as a leading contender to steal Keane’s crown as champion jockey, and the Donegal native grabbed the opportunity with both hands, registering career-best wins, earnings and strike rate.

While this is a review of Irish flat racing, it’s impossible to discuss Brown McMonagle’s memorable season without mentioning the 22-year-old’s inspired ride aboard Ethical Diamond in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, his celebrations curtailed as he had to catch a flight back to the Curragh to receive his championship trophy.

Browne McMonagle finished eight wins clear in the table, but the competitive nature of the Irish flat scene is evident in that both Ben Coen and Chris Hayes recorded career-best tallies to finish third and fourth respectively.

Coen’s 67 wins and €500,000 rise in earnings coincided with a terrific season for his employer Johnny Murtagh, though he did also ride a stakes winner for Ballydoyle in Garden Of Eden.

Hayes’ 62 wins were spread across a greater number of trainers, and his seven blacktype winners hailed from five different yards. Joey Sheridan also made his presence felt this year, landing 36 races, a significant rise from his previous peak of 24.

Two sides

Retained rider for Juddmonte may have sounded like a dream job to most when Colin Keane accepted the role in early June, but it soon became apparent that the seemingly golden opportunity came with its own set of challenges.

Travelling back and forth between the UK and Ireland must take its toll, particularly when high profile horses disappoint and public blame or judgement focuses on the rider, as Kieran Shoemark learned after the 2000 Guineas.

Field Of Gold’s brilliant Irish 2000 Guineas victory precluded Keane from taking the prestigious role, and Juddmonte’s grey followed up at Royal Ascot, but failed to fire the next twice. The son of Kingman remains in training and, while his unpredictability has kept things interesting for fans, Keane will evidently be hoping for fewer surprises in 2026.

Ryan Moore’s injury was a major plot twist in 2025 and, while it might have caused a few headaches in the Ballydoyle and Coolmore camps, Irish racing fans enjoyed the opportunity to see his able deputy Christophe Soumillon ride at Irish Champions Weekend.

The handsome Delacroix crowned a treble on the opening day for Soumillon when winning the Irish Champions Stakes. While it perhaps wasn’t a vintage renewal of the race, the performance still carried plenty of weight, while the form of the Group 2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes won by Ballydoyle’s Benvenuto Cellini lacked depth due to just four lining up for the mile contest.

Thankfully, plans to upgrade the race to Group 1 status have been stalled. Previous winners have gone on to score at the highest level, but fields of four the last two years raise the question as to whether changes should be made to increase its appeal.

Tough as teak

Despite missing three months of the season, Ryan Moore finished second in the jockeys’ championship by earnings, thanks to high-profile rides and wins. The quietly-spoken rider has proven time and time again that he is an addition to his top-class mounts, rather than simply gifted success by association.

His grit and dedication were evident this year when it was revealed that he had ridden through the pain of a fractured femur for two months before x-rays revealed the true nature of his injury.

It is simply mind-blowing that Moore won four Group 1s between Irish Derby weekend, when he reportedly began to struggle, and late August, when he stood down.

Moore also delivered one of the most memorable rides this season, to my mind at least. Los Angeles has been described as ‘an idle horse’ by Aidan O’Brien in the past, so some might think that striking at the last second is best, but Moore produced a challenge at the two-furlong pole in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, leaving time for Anmaat to loom alongside a furlong later. The Camelot colt’s fighting nature was ignited, and Moore’s mount battled back to justify favouritism by half a length.

Ronan Whelan’s increased association with Ballydoyle this season may have resulted in fewer wins, but the quality increased, with a Group 1 and 2 in Ireland and a Group success in the UK. Precise’s win in the Moyglare Stud Stakes best demonstrated Whelan’s talent, and crucially, patience.

The chesnut wasn’t the sharpest from the gates, but Whelan didn’t panic and positioned her on the outside of unbeaten Prix Morny heroine Venetian Sun. Whelan bided his time there, keeping Venetian Sun behind horses until a pivotal moment in which Precise had enough time to assert, but the British raider’s challenge was too delayed to figure.

In my opinion, Venetian Sun was underwhelming at any rate and, of course, Precise proved that she herself had tons of ability next time out, when less tactics were required.

“WE’LL throw everything at it. If we have to get the dog out, we’ll try and run him!” In the end, Martin Hassett’s dog stayed at home, leaving it to Joseph O’Brien’s two-year-old James J Braddock to provide Wayne Hassett with his 25th win of the season, and thus seal his status as champion apprentice of 2025.

The title went down to the wire, with four winners separating the top four apprentices, Hassett (25 wins), Robert Whearty (23), Jack Cleary (22) and Wesley Joyce (21). The stiff competition across the division was evident in their final tallies, considering that Hassett claimed joint-second last year with 31 wins.

Nicola Burns is far less experienced than the leading quartet, having only had her first ride last season, and began the current term with a single win from 23 rides under her belt. Her number of rides and winners snowballed in 2025, celebrating 19 wins from 267 rides, earning her fifth position in the apprentice championship.

AS much as we welcome international competition, most racing fans cheer the home team, but Zavateri won many Irish hearts with his terrier-like performance in the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes. The stewards’ enquiry that followed the hard-fought battle only added to the suspense on the Curragh, with Eve Johnson-Houghton’s delight evident when her 35,000gns buy was declared the winner over Ballydoyle’s 450,000gns colt Gstaad.

If it weren’t for Johnson-Houghton, it would have been a Ballydoyle 1-2-3 and, while Gstaad was a worthy favourite, his stable’s domination would have made for a decidedly less memorable running.

The Irish benefited from Field Of Gold’s misfortune, for want of a better word, at Newmarket when John and Thady Gosden, along with Juddmonte, decided that a trip to the Curragh was necessary to prove their star colt’s worth and gain all-important classic success for their future stallion.

The grey’s dominant display under Colin Keane was another obvious highlight of the 2025 Irish flat season, while Fallen Angel’s participation in and winning of the Matron Stakes ultimately made the race. Her stablemate Convergent kicked off a double for Karl Burke when landing the CMG Group Stakes, in which two British horses headed the market.

Burke’s juvenile Alparslan was sent off favourite for the Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes the following day, and, given the manner in which he won, it’s hoped that he can raise the profile of the valuable race, with past winners failing to inspire since.