The Irish Champions Festival completed its 13th edition across Leopardstown and the Curragh at the weekend with a sporting product that delivered almost everything its commercial partners could have asked for.
There were seven Group 1 races, more than €5 million in prize money, international broadcast and World Pool exposure, outstanding performances and enough unexpected sporting drama to give sponsors stories with a life well beyond the two days themselves.
At Leopardstown on Saturday, the €1.25 million Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes produced the biggest shock of the weekend as Jessica Harrington’s Hotazhell won at 50/1, edging Wimbledon Hawkeye in a photo finish.
For title sponsor Royal Bahrain, it was the kind of race that creates value beyond traditional naming rights. The result and images travelled internationally through racing media, betting platforms and broadcast coverage, attaching the Royal Bahrain name to one of the most talked-about results of the European Flat season.
Blue Bolt’s victory in the Coolmore America ‘Justify’ Matron Stakes and the emergence of Darkness Falls in the newly elevated Group 1 Golden Fleece Stakes gave Saturday additional quality and reinforced the importance of Leopardstown as an international shop window.
The promotion of the Golden Fleece to Group 1 status brought the number of top-level races across the weekend to seven and creates another premium asset around which future sponsorship, hospitality and international promotion can be developed.
The new Aperol Terrace overlooking the parade ring made its debut as part of a new three-year partnership between HRI Racecourses and Richmond Marketing covering Aperol, Sarti Rosa, Campari, Crodino 0.0%, Red Bull and White Claw.
The terrace created a recognisable social destination within the racecourse and offered Aperol ownership of part of the racegoer’s day. That is increasingly where strong sports sponsorship is heading: from perimeter signage and race titles towards spaces, experiences and content that people actively choose to engage with.
Louis Copeland & Sons and Ardán Collective partnered on the Champions of Style competition and Fashion Zone, while O’Driscolls Irish Whiskey activated through entertainment, branded Panama hats and its own cocktail.
The Festival also used a Punters Passport to encourage spectators to move between different activations, alongside live illustration, music and photographic content.
Racing remains the reason for attending, but commercial value increasingly comes from what can be built around the gaps between races and how effectively sponsors can become part of the entertainment rather than an interruption to it.
Hospitality was another important element. Leopardstown’s 1888 Restaurant sold out in advance, with a range of pavilion and premium packages creating inventory at very different price points from the €35 general admission ticket.
Sunday at the Curragh offered a different proposition.
Where Leopardstown has the advantages of Dublin, corporate hospitality and a stronger social dimension, the Curragh is able to lean heavily into racing’s own international commercial ecosystem.
Four consecutive Group 1 races were supported by sponsors whose businesses have direct links with the sport.
Moyglare Stud, Goffs and the Irish Stallion Farms EBF represent breeding and bloodstock. Comer Group brings a major Irish corporate brand to the headline Irish St Leger, while Bar One Racing sits within racing’s wagering economy.
Tattersalls Ireland’s involvement in the €250,000 Super Auction Sales Stakes added another important bloodstock connection.
Aidan, Joseph and Donnacha O’Brien between them won all four Group 1 contests. Sun Goddess won the Moyglare Stud Stakes for Aidan, Donnacha’s Comanche Brave took the Bar One Racing Flying Five, Joseph saddled Folsom Blues to win the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes and Aidan completed the sequence when Scandinavia won the Comer Group International Irish St Leger.
World Pool operated across 15 Festival races, bringing betting liquidity from international markets into Leopardstown and the Curragh and ensuring the racing — and the sponsors attached to it — appeared before audiences well beyond Ireland.
RTÉ carried coverage free-to-air across both days, beginning at 2pm on Saturday and 2.30pm on Sunday on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, while Racing TV provided specialist international coverage.
Irish racing is an export industry. Horses, breeding, bloodstock sales and expertise operate internationally, meaning the commercial value of Irish Champions Festival cannot be measured only by the number of people standing beside the parade ring.
The one outstanding measure of the success of the weekend is the crowd.
Official 2026 attendance figures had not been published at the time of writing on Monday morning.
That number will matter because the Festival has historically struggled to translate the extraordinary quality of its racing into crowds comparable with Ireland’s largest sporting occasions or indeed its own Dublin Racing Festival over Jumps in February.
In 2025, Leopardstown attracted 11,354 spectators, up 12 per cent year-on-year, while poor weather contributed to a Curragh crowd of 8,361. The combined attendance was 19,715.
Leopardstown CEO Mark Clayton had indicated ahead of this year’s meeting that advance sales were running ahead of 2025, so confirmation of an increase would represent another important step.
For all the international value, sponsors still want atmosphere, full hospitality spaces and visible crowds.
That remains the next frontier for Irish Champions Festival.
Sport for Business Perspective
Commercially, the weekend demonstrated just how much broader Irish racing’s sponsorship model has become.
Royal Bahrain, Comer Group, Coolmore America, Moyglare Stud, Goffs, Tattersalls Ireland, Bar One Racing, Ballylinch Stud, TonyBet, Irish Stallion Farms EBF and World Pool were embedded within the sporting programme.
Aperol, O’Driscolls, Louis Copeland & Sons and Ardán Collective demonstrated another side of the model, built around lifestyle, experience, hospitality and direct engagement.
The strongest major sporting events need both.
They require elite competition capable of generating international headlines, but they also need a compelling experience for the person buying a ticket.
Irish Champions Festival unquestionably delivered the first of those this weekend, and there were encouraging signs of continued progress on the second.
The commercial opportunity now is to keep connecting the two.
If the Festival can steadily increase domestic attendance while maintaining seven Group 1 races, international World Pool exposure, free-to-air television and this increasingly sophisticated range of brand activations, it becomes an exceptionally valuable shop window — not only for Irish racing, but for Ireland’s bloodstock, hospitality, tourism and wider sporting economy.
Horse Racing Ireland, Leopardstown racecourse, the Curragh, and RTÉ are full members of Sport for Business. AIB are partners of our Gaelic Games coverage.
If you would like to be part of the Sport for Business community and see your organisation in our content, on our stages, and in the conversation happening every day around the commercial world of Irish Sport, email us today and let’s see what is possible.
Image Credit: Irish Champions Festival
ABOUT SPORT FOR BUSINESS
Sport for Business is Ireland’s leading platform focused on the commercial, strategic and societal impact of sport. It connects decision-makers across governing bodies, clubs, brands, agencies, and public institutions through high-quality content, events, and insights.
Sport for Business explores how sport drives economic value, participation, inclusion and national identity, and how your story can be part of ours.
Through analysis, storytelling and convening the sector, it helps leaders understand trends, share best practices, and make better-informed decisions. It positions sport not just as entertainment but as a vital contributor to Ireland’s social and economic fabric.
Find out more about becoming a member today.
Or sign up for our Daily Sport for Business Snapshot email bulletins to get a flavour of the material we cover.
Sign up for our News Bulletins here.
