VINCENT O’Brien and Down Royal might not be a connection you would instantly think about, especially on the eve of a great weekend of National Hunt racing at the track.

However the most important flat race of the year at Down Royal is the Ulster Derby, a race first run 80 years ago in 1936. The most valuable race run in Northern Ireland, the original master of Ballydoyle won the race seven times, most famously with Caucasus and Transworld, both of which went on to land the Irish St Leger later in the year. Both horses were ridden by Tommy Murphy.

However the most famous winner of the race was Media Puzzle. Dermot Weld’s charge landed the prize in 2000 and two years later he credited his trainer with a second success in the world famous Melbourne Cup.

Next weekend sees the latest renewal of the Grade 1 JNwine.com Champion Chase and it has held this status since 2002, the fourth year of its existence. It earned that rating having been won in the first two years by Florida Pearl and the Gold Cup winner Looks Like Trouble.

Since then the roll of honour of winners reads like a who’s who of equine talent, including Beef Or Salmon and Kauto Star (both dual winners), while the two most recent winners are Road To Riches and Don Cossack, the latter using the race as a stepping stone to Cheltenham Gold Cup glory.

The Champion Chase may well be the feature of the two-day festival meeting at Down Royal, but it is not the only one. The centrepiece is followed immediately on the Saturday by the Titanic Belfast Chase, which is also known as the Skymas Chase in honour of that great steeplechaser. It too started its life in 1999 and seven years ago was granted Grade 2 status. It was won by Don Cossack in 2014 and Paul Nicholls sent Ptit Zig over to win last year. In 2002 it was captured by Moscow Flyer who died recently.

On Friday next the card at Down Royal contains two features, the Grade 2 WKD Hurdle and the Grade 3 EBF Lough Construction Ltd Mares Novice Hurdle. Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh have combined to win the latter race for the last two years, while Noel Meade had won the WKD Hurdle six times, five of the winners ridden by the recently retired Paul Carberry.

The wonderfully named Down Royal Corporation of Horse Breeders started racing as far back as 1685, though not at the present site of the racecourse. It is only at The Maze since 1789!! About 40 years earlier King George II donated £100 – a significant amount at the time – to run a King’s Plate and the race is still staged today, with prizemoney contributed to by the Privy Purse or the British Queen’s private funds.

The racing year in Northern Ireland ends with a meeting at Down Royal on December 26th – the only day on which three race meetings on the island are staged on a single day.

Down Royal is situated just 4km from the town of Lisburn and the course has been hugely revamped and progressed during the terms of Mike Todd as manager and Jim Nicholson as chairman. Back in April Todd celebrated 20 years in his role and during that time he has steered Down Royal to new heights.

A key ingredient of his management style is to be innovative, something that is welcomed by racegoers who are the focus of his efforts when making improvements to the track and its facilities.