The Tattersalls Irish Guineas Festival: A Complete Guide

When and where

The Tattersalls Irish Guineas Festival is run at the Curragh in late May, opening the Irish Classic season. The most recent staging, in 2026, was a two-day weekend: Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May. The Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas went off at 15:40 on the Saturday, with the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Tattersalls Gold Cup both run mid-afternoon on the Sunday. That gave each Classic day its own headline act, with the Gold Cup giving the weekend a third Group 1 on the Sunday card. Dates for 2027 had not been published at the time of writing; expect a similar late-May slot, but treat nothing as confirmed until the Curragh releases its fixture list, and always check the final racecard for off-times, which can shift by a few minutes year to year. For what actually happens across the two cards, see the weekend day by day.

The venue is the Curragh Racecourse in Co. Kildare, in the Republic of Ireland, set on the open grassland of the Curragh plain roughly 50km (about 30 miles) south-west of Dublin. By car it is about 50 minutes from Dublin city centre or Dublin Airport: Exit 9 off the M50 onto the N7 southbound, then Exit 12 off the M7. Parking at the course is free, clearly signposted and staffed on race days, with blue-badge spaces in front of the main entrance.

Without a car, take an Irish Rail train on the Dublin to Cork line to Kildare or Newbridge station, then the complimentary shuttle bus to the course. The shuttle is timed to the main train arrivals and departures rather than running all day, so plan around it. There is no operating racecourse station of its own. Racing is from the Aga Khan Stand, the grandstand opened after the course's 2019 redevelopment.

For the full picture of the track, tickets, enclosures and food and drink, our Curragh racecourse guide covers the venue in depth; this page sticks to the festival itself, starting with the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

The Irish 2,000 Guineas

The Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas is the Saturday feature and the first of the two Classics the festival is named for. It is a Group 1 over one mile for three-year-old colts and fillies (geldings are excluded, and fillies receive a 3lb allowance), first run in 1921 and won that year by Soldennis. Worth around €500,000 in recent seasons, it is Ireland's Classic mile and the first colts' Classic of the Irish year. At the 2026 festival it went off at 15:40 on Saturday 23 May, and Gstaad won it in race-record time for the mile, beating Distant Storm by three lengths under Ryan Moore. That was Aidan O'Brien's twelfth win in the race.

The Curragh mile is a searching one: a stiff, galloping test with a run-in of around three furlongs that climbs all the way to the line. Milers who get the trip on the bridle at sharper tracks find their stamina examined here, which is one reason the race reads so well as a pointer to the summer's top mile form.

The roll of honour explains the race's standing. Field of Gold won it in 2025 for John and Thady Gosden under Colin Keane, following Rosallion in 2024 and Paddington in 2023, who went on a five-race Group 1 winning spree that took in the St James's Palace Stakes, the Eclipse and the Sussex Stakes. Native Trail (2022), Kingman (2014) and Rock of Gibraltar (2002) all won it, and Mastercraftsman took the 2009 renewal for Aidan O'Brien. Go back further and you find Sadler's Wells, the 1984 winner who went on to a legendary stud career.

The Newmarket connection runs deep. Nine horses have completed the English-Irish 2,000 Guineas double, most recently Churchill in 2017 for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore, so the form from Newmarket's own Guineas festival in early May is usually the first place to look when the field takes shape. It is a guide to class, not a promise: hot favourites have been turned over here, as Phoenix of Spain showed when beating the 6/4 joint-favourite Too Darn Hot in 2019.

O'Brien is the race's leading trainer with around 12 wins, though the recent record shows a genuine spread of yards: the last four editions in the research window went to the Gosdens, Richard Hannon, Ballydoyle and Charlie Appleby. Historically, Tommy Burns and Martin Quirke share the jockeys' record with five wins each.

The winner typically heads for the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, which makes the race a key early form line for the rest of the European season. For the fillies' Classic and the older horses' championship race that follow a day later, see the 1,000 Guineas and Gold Cup, or jump to the weekend day by day for how the Saturday card fits together.

The Irish 1,000 Guineas and Tattersalls Gold Cup

If Saturday belongs to the colts, Sunday gives the festival its double bill: the fillies' Classic and a Group 1 for the older generation, both run mid-afternoon on Sunday 24 May in 2026.

The Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas is Ireland's Classic mile for three-year-old fillies, first run in 1922 and won that year by Lady Violette. Like the Irish 2,000 Guineas the day before, it is run over the Curragh's stiff, galloping mile, a searching examination of a young filly's class and stamina, and it draws heavily on Newmarket form. Four fillies have completed the English-Irish 1,000 Guineas double: Attraction in 2004, Finsceal Beo in 2007, Winter in 2017 and Hermosa in 2019. The roll of honour also carries Ridgewood Pearl (1995), Alpha Centauri (2018) and Tahiyra (2023), while Aidan O'Brien leads the trainers' table with around a dozen wins, most recently Precise in 2026 under Ryan Moore. Dermot Weld's pair, Homeless Songs (2022) and Tahiyra, both ridden by Chris Hayes, show Ballydoyle does not have it all to itself. The race is worth around €300,000, with roughly €285,000 to the winner.

Sharing the Sunday card is the Tattersalls Gold Cup, the weekend's race for older horses. Established in 1962 as the Ballymoss Stakes at Limerick Junction, and later run as the Rogers Gold Cup, it has held Group 1 status since 1999 and is now worth around €500,000. Run over an extended ten furlongs (about 2,112 metres) for four-year-olds and up, it is one of the first major middle-distance tests of the European season for the older generation, and it rewards a class horse in sharp early-season form. Magical won it back to back in 2019 and 2020, following So You Think (2011 and 2012) and Al Kazeem (2013 and 2015) as a modern multiple winner, and Los Angeles clocked 2:08.41 in 2025, the fastest of the last 20 renewals. Aidan O'Brien is again the leading trainer, though White Birch (2024, John Joseph Murphy) and Helvic Dream (2021, Noel Meade, at 8/1) prove it gets away from the big battalions, and the 2026 running went the same way: Almaqam won at 13/2 under Kieran Shoemark, a first Irish winner for the British trainer Ed Walker. None of this history makes any of it predictable at the prices, which is part of the appeal.

Together the two races make Sunday arguably the stronger card of the weekend on pure quality. How they slot into the full running order, alongside the Lanwades Stud Stakes and Marble Hill Stakes, is covered in the weekend day by day.

The Weekend Day by Day

The Tattersalls Irish Guineas Festival runs to a settled two-day shape, and the 2026 staging on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May followed it exactly. Saturday belongs to the colts, Sunday to the fillies and the older brigade. Dates for 2027 have not been published; expect late May, but treat nothing as confirmed until curragh.ie posts the fixture.

Saturday is 2,000 Guineas day. The Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas, covered in full in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, went off at 15:40 in 2026. The card around it carries genuine black type: the Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes, a Group 2 sprint over six furlongs for older horses, and the Listed Orby Stakes over a mile and a half. Off the track, Saturday hosts the Ashford Castle Classic Style Icon Award, the festival's style competition.

Sunday doubles up. The Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Tattersalls Gold Cup, the weekend's Group 1 for older horses over an extended ten furlongs, share the Sunday afternoon. Both are unpacked in the 1,000 Guineas and Gold Cup. Sunday's supporting black type comprises the Lanwades Stud Stakes, a Group 2 mile for fillies and mares, and the Marble Hill Stakes, a Group 3 for two-year-olds over six furlongs. One practical note: the running order and minutes of the two Sunday features have varied between preview sources in the past, so always check the final racecard on the day rather than assuming last year's times.

Across the two days that makes six Group races plus a Listed contest, the densest concentration of early-season Classic and older-horse form in Ireland, and a key pointer towards Royal Ascot.

Atmosphere and visiting

Here is the honest picture: the Guineas festival is not a heaving occasion, and that is precisely its appeal. Since the Curragh reopened in 2019 after its €81.5 million redevelopment, crowds at this meeting have been modest. The Irish Times reported that the 2024 festival, then run over three days, drew just over 14,000 people in total, with only about 5,000 turning up for the 1,000 Guineas. Compare that with a big Cheltenham or Royal Ascot day and the practical read is simple: on these numbers, few Group 1 weekends are easier to attend. You can park for free, walk in without a scrum, stand a few feet from Classic winners in the parade ring and get served at the bar between races.

The facilities match the billing. The Aga Khan Stand, the centrepiece of the rebuild, caters for up to 6,000 people over four levels, and on Guineas weekend you will have room to move around it. Champions Hall, the large ground-floor public space, houses the Atrium Café and the Guineas Bar, while the Tattersalls Champagne Bar overlooks the parade ring and is open to all racegoers, not just hospitality guests. With attendances at these levels, general admission gets you close to everything; how the two cards are structured is covered in the day-by-day guide.

The 2026 renewal ran as a two-day weekend, Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May, and the compact format suits a visit: one night's stay covers both Classics and the Tattersalls Gold Cup. Check current tickets and dates on the official curragh.ie before booking, and if the Classics whet the appetite, the Curragh's season builds from here to the Irish Derby Festival in late June. Travel routes, trains and the free shuttle are set out in when and where.

One honest word on betting. Small crowds do not mean soft markets: the Guineas races are bet into all over Europe, and no festival form angle reliably beats the starting price. If you do have a bet, treat it as part of the day out, and check the current bookmaker sign-up offers before opening an account rather than after. Practical questions, from dress code to bringing children, are answered in the FAQ below.