Just like that, the seasons change as Ireland’s 2026 flat action on turf starts at the Curragh on Sunday.
It’s a campaign that sees Aidan O’Brien at the helm of the all-conquering Ballydoyle for a 30th season and the 56-year-old at the height of his dominance.
Champion trainer for almost three decades, and currently British champion too for an eighth time, the man who has rewritten racing’s record books goes into another season armed to the teeth with classic hopes.
Gstaad, the last of 26 Group/Grade One winners in 2025, is among the favourites for the 2000 Guineas in May, while the fillies Precise and Daimond Necklace are at the top of 1000 Guineas betting and the Oaks. Pierre Bonnard is early favourite to deliver him a 12th Epsom Derby.
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Counting both the Irish and French Legers, which are open to older horses, O’Brien’s tally in major European classics is at 114. It will be the shock of any season if that doesn’t increase in 2026. He kicks things off with four runners at Irish racing’s HQ.
The National Hunt theme continues on Saturday where a trio of Irish hopes line up in Uttoxeter’s Midlands Grand National. At just half-a-furlong shorter than the Aintree original, it’s the second longest jumps race on the calendar.
But a kick off before St Patrick’s Day underlines the curious limbo the flat date occupies in the public consciousness. The rest of the major Spring National Hunt festivals have yet to take place over the coming weeks and only then will focus turn properly to the summer game.
Fresh from his Cheltenham success on The Mourne Rambler, Colin Keane is in action at the Curragh and will be joined by Ryan Moore, who is back for another season as Coolmore’s number one rider. His four rides include last year’s winner Orandi for Tony Martin in the featured €100,000 Nua Healthcare Lincolnshire.
If it’s a case of the usual suspects in many respects, a notable figure at the Curragh will be Brazilian trainer Robson de Aguiar. Long a key figure in the burgeoning AMO Racing operation, the ex-jockey, breeze-up specialist and Ballydoyle work-rider secured a license to train under his own name in November.
The 44-year-old has declared seven runners, including both Tuscan Hills and Crypto Force in the Lincolnshire. AMO’s top jockey David Egan travels to ride, as does their backup rider, Rowan Scott.
However, it’s a squad of four runners in the opening two-year-old maiden of the year that could indicate the shape of some things to come in 2026.
When officially assistant to Adrian Murray at his Co Westmeath base, de Aguiar helped prepare the last three winners of this race, all of whom went on to score at Group One level.
Forecast heavy ground conditions at the Curragh will have more in common with Uttoxeter than most would like.
In Saturday’s cross-channel feature, Barry Connell’s My Immortal, winner of last month’s National Trial at Punchestown, is joined by Emmet Mullins’s French import J’arrive de L’Est. His two Cross-Country efforts behind Favoir De Champdou and Final Orders read very well after Wednesday’s festival result.
