We bring you the full schedule for 2021 Irish Champions Weekend
The first day of this popular meeting takes place at Leopardstown on Saturday 11th September
The second and final day is run at the Curragh, where the Irish St Leger is the main event
We look at the full schedule and preview the Group One races
Chris Hayes riding Search For A Song win The Comer Group International Irish St. Leger. (Getty)
We bring you the full schedule for 2021 Irish Champions Weekend schedule, as Leopardstown and the Curragh gear up for two fantastic days of racing.
Since it's creation in 2014, Irish Champions Weekend has proven a very popular fixture. Over the two days, five fantastic Group One prizes will be up for grabs, along with the final Classic of the season in Ireland, the St Leger.
The cards on both days of Irish Champions Weekend feature an exciting mix of pattern races and handicaps. Let's take a look through the cards at Leopardstown and the Curragh in full and preview some of the big races.
2021 Irish Champions Weekend Schedule and Dates
2021 Irish Champions Weekend Day One - Saturday 11th September
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The card on day one at Leopardstown opens with a bang, as the finest fillies and mares in Ireland do-battle in the Matron Stakes. Mother Earth and Joan Of Arc could fly the flag for Ireland, with British contenders Alcohol Free, Lady Bowthorpe and Primo Bacio also featuring in the entries.
Next up is the Champions Juvenile Stakes, a Group Two which often produces a contender for the following year's 2000 Guineas, which leads into the feature race on Saturday's card, the Irish Champions Stakes.
Star three-year-old, St Mark's Basilica is over the knock that kept him out of the Juddmonte International Stakes, and he tops the ante-post betting. Dermot Weld's Breeders' Cup heroine, Tarnawa rivals Aidan O'Brien's colt for favouritism, with Poetic Flare and Love also featuring in the betting.
Several classy horses will then clash in the Group Two Boomerang Stakes, before we move into the grueling, 13-furlong Petingo Handicap. Day one then closes with the Sovereign Path Premier Handicap.
Ryan Moore riding St Mark's Basilica (purple) win The Coral-Eclipse at Sandown. (Getty)
2021 Irish Champions Weekend Day Two - Sunday 12th September
Sunday's action at the Curragh begins with the Bold Lad Handicap Sprint. The Group Two Blandford Stakes is up next, before star sprinters Winter Power, Dragon Symbol and Glass Slippers clash in the first Group One on day two of Irish Champions Weekend, the Flying Five Stakes.
Two-year-olds will then get the chance to thrust themselves into the picture for next year's Classics. First up is the Moyglare Stud Stakes for fillies, where Andrew Balding's Sandrine could travel to Ireland to take on Agartha, Hermana Estrella and Sunset Shiraz.
British raider Ebor River, Native Trail and Berkshire Shadow all hold entries in the colt's equivalent of the Moyglare, the Vincent O'Brien National Stakes. The betting for this prestigious Group One will likely be headed by Point Lonsdale, who's unbeaten in four starts so far for Aidan O'Brien.
The Irish St Leger then brings the curtain down on 2021 Irish Champions Weekend in spectacular fashion. Search For A Song will attempt to follow in the footsteps of Vinnie Roe and win this Classic for the third year in a row. Dermot Weld's mare could face stiff competition from Wonderful Tonight, Broome and Japan, along with dangerous three-year-olds like Wordsworth and Yibir.
St Mark's Basilica2021 Irish Champion Stakes FavouriteGET EVENS HERE
Winter Power2021 Flying Five Stakes FavouriteGET 9/4 HERE
