DUNDALK Stadium, Leopardstown and the Curragh are each in danger of having one of their blacktype races downgraded in 2027.

The European Pattern Committee [EPC] has identified Dundalk’s Group 3 Mercury Stakes, Leopardstown’s Group 3 Tyros Stakes and the Curragh’s Listed Curragh Stakes as races which need to attract better quality fields if they are to retain their current status.

The three most recent winners of the Mercury Stakes were Dun Na Sead, Ostraka (both trained by Danny Murphy) and Spartan Arrow (Archie Watson). All three have been well beaten in every race they contested since.

Subsequent Group 1 winner Hotazhell won the Tyros Stakes in 2024 but even though last year’s winner North Coast went on to finish third at the Breeders’ Cup, the placed horses at Leopardstown have tended to drag down the race’s average rating.

Ireland has received a new listed race for two-year-old fillies this year. Cork will stage the first running of the seven-furlong Firville Stakes on August 14th.

There is also a new Group 1 race for two-year-olds on the Irish calendar this year. As confirmed by the EPC in 2025, the Golden Fleece Stakes at Leopardstown on Irish Champions Festival weekend moves up from Group 2 status this year and its distance goes up from a mile to nine furlongs. Recent winners include Auguste Rodin, Diego Velazquez, Green Impact and Benvenuto Cellini.

Leopardstown’s Listed Glencairn Stakes, usually run in early June over a mile (previously nine furlongs), has been moved to Navan and renamed the Hill Of Tara Stakes.