Concorde Stakes Day at Tipperary: The Complete Guide

The Concorde Stakes is a Flat race over 7 furlongs and 100 yards (about 7½f, 1,500m) for horses aged three and older. Fillies and mares receive a 3lb allowance. It is run on Tipperary's flat, left-handed circuit, and comes at the back end of the Flat season in early October.

The grade is the detail to get right. Recent runnings have been at Listed level: it was run as a Listed race in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Before that it was a Group 3, a status it held up to and including 2022, and it was downgraded to Listed for 2023. A number of guides still carry the old Group 3 label, so treat any present-tense "Group 3" description as out of date. The prize fund fell with the demotion. The Wikipedia infobox cites a 2020 purse of €55,000 (first prize €32,450) from its Group 3 days; the 2023 running paid €25,500 to the winner, and the 2024 running was worth €42,500 guaranteed with €25,075 to the winner.

Sponsorship sits with Coolmore Stud, and in recent seasons the race has carried a Coolmore stallion's name, for example the Coolmore Sioux Nation Concorde Stakes from 2023 to 2025 and the Coolmore U S Navy Flag Concorde Stakes in 2021.

Detail	Concorde Stakes
Course	Tipperary (Limerick Junction)
Distance	7f 100y (about 7½f, 1,500m)
Age/sex	3yo+, fillies and mares 3lb allowance
Current grade	Listed (2023 to 2025)
Former grade	Group 3 (up to 2022)
Sponsor	Coolmore Stud
When	Early October, Super Sunday
First prize (2024)	€25,075 (total €42,500 guaranteed)

The Concorde is not Tipperary's only black-type Flat race. The Fairy Bridge Stakes, a Group 3 for fillies and mares run over the same 7f 100y trip in August, is the course's other pattern race. It was established in 2003 at Listed level and promoted to Group 3 in 2012, and it is named after Fairy Bridge, the broodmare who was the dam of Sadler's Wells. It sits on a separate August fixture and is not part of Super Sunday, but it is worth knowing as the second string to Tipperary's black-type bow.

The Concorde Stakes has not always been a Tipperary race. It began life at Phoenix Park, the Dublin track, where it was run over a mile. When Phoenix Park closed, the race transferred to Tipperary in 1991, and its identity as a Limerick Junction fixture dates from then. It was moved to its early-October slot in 1995, and it was staged at Cork in 1999 and 2000 before settling back at Tipperary.

Over its Tipperary decades the race built a roll of honour heavy with the yard of Dermot Weld, who is the leading trainer in its history with around a dozen wins. The record stretches back through winners such as Iron Leader in 1983, Kings River in 1985 and 1986, Executive Perk in 1989, Rami in 1992, Two-Twenty-Two in 1998 and Tarry Flynn in 1999, and on to Emulous in 2010, Anam Allta in 2011, Yellow Rosebud in 2012 and Big Break in 2013. Michael Kinane is the leading jockey with five wins, including Kings River twice, Executive Perk, Rami and Eastern Appeal in 2007.

The most significant recent change is the one to its grade. The Concorde ran as a Group 3 up to and including 2022, when Statement took it for the yard of J. P. O'Brien. It was downgraded to Listed for 2023, and it has been run at that level since. That shift, part of the routine pattern-race review process, is the reason the same race is described as Group 3 in older references and as Listed in the latest results.

Through all of it the race has kept its place as the Flat centrepiece of Super Sunday, the early-October fixture that is the busiest day of Tipperary's year. It has also collected its share of talking points, from Jet Setting winning in 2016 not long after being bought for a large sum, to Yulong Gold Fairy landing back-to-back runnings in 2018 and 2019, to the 2015 running being settled in the stewards' room when Tested was disqualified and the race awarded to Sovereign Debt.

The Concorde Stakes roll of honour is a good guide to who wins races at this level in Ireland, dominated by the big Flat yards and, in its history, by one trainer above all.

Dermot Weld is the leading trainer with around a dozen wins, a tally built across four decades from Iron Leader in 1983 to Big Break in 2013. Michael Kinane is the leading jockey with five wins. Among the horses, Kings River (1985 and 1986), Wizard King (1996 and 1997) and Yulong Gold Fairy (2018 and 2019) each won it twice.

The recent verified winners are set out below. Starting prices are shown only where they are on record; where an SP is not confirmed the cell reads n/a.

Year	Winner	Trainer	Jockey	SP
2025	Deepone	P. Twomey	Billy Lee	10/3 fav
2024	Power Under Me	G. M. Lyons	Colin Keane	15/2
2023	Snapraeterea	J. P. O'Brien	Declan McDonogh	9/2
2022	Statement	J. P. O'Brien	Dylan Browne McMonagle	5/2
2021	Maker Of Kings	Ger Lyons	n/a	n/a
2020	Current Option	n/a	n/a	n/a
2019	Yulong Gold Fairy	n/a	n/a	n/a
2018	Yulong Gold Fairy	n/a	n/a	n/a
2017	Psychedelic Funk	n/a	n/a	n/a
2016	Jet Setting	n/a	n/a	n/a
2015	Sovereign Debt	n/a	n/a	n/a
2014	Big Break	n/a	n/a	n/a
2013	Sruthan	n/a	n/a	n/a
2012	Yellow Rosebud	n/a	n/a	n/a
2011	Anam Allta	n/a	n/a	n/a
2010	Emulous	n/a	n/a	n/a
2009	Duff	n/a	n/a	n/a

The 2022 running of Statement was the last at Group 3 level. Deepone's win in 2025 came off at 14:43 on the Super Sunday card, in a time of 1 minute 42.99 seconds over heavy ground.

A few of these names are worth a note. Jet Setting, the 2016 winner, had been bought for a large sum shortly before the race. Yulong Gold Fairy is one of the dual winners, taking it in both 2018 and 2019. The 2015 result was decided by the stewards: Tested passed the post first but was disqualified, and the race was awarded to Sovereign Debt. Earlier Tipperary and pre-transfer winners noted in the record include Executive Perk (1989), Rami (1992), Wizard King (1996 and 1997), Two-Twenty-Two (1998), Tarry Flynn (1999) and Eastern Appeal (2007).

Starting prices and winning margins are not on record for every historic running, so only the confirmed figures are shown here rather than filling the gaps.

Before any of the detail below, the honest ground rule: there is no profitable angle here. Backing favourites loses money to starting price over time, and no draw pattern, trainer stat or type-of-winner trend changes that. Everything in this section is context for reading the race, not a system to bet.

Tipperary is a fast, flat speed track, and its character shapes how races run rather than who to back. On the round course, front-runners and prominently ridden horses are hard to peg back once they have an uncontested lead, especially on good or firmer ground. The Concorde is run over 7f 100y, past the sprint distances where the sharpest draw bias applies, so the going and the pace matter more than the stall number.

Factor	What the track tends to show
Going	Front-runners hard to catch on good or firmer ground
Draw (5f sprint course)	High draws favoured when the going is soft or worse
Draw (7f and beyond)	Opinions differ; first bend arrives soon after the start
Trainers	Aidan O'Brien has the most Flat runners and winners here

On the straight five-furlong course a marked draw bias shows up when the going is soft or worse, with the stands-side ground holding up better and high-drawn runners favoured. Over the Concorde trip of seven furlongs and beyond, opinions differ: the first bend comes soon after the start, which some read as a help to low draws, though other data show high draws going well. It is a genuine "it depends", not an edge.

The recent Concorde results give a flavour of how it tends to bet rather than a rule to follow. Deepone won as the 10/3 favourite in 2025; the 2024 and 2023 winners went off at 15/2 and 9/2, prices that are competitive without being outsiders. Aidan O'Brien has the strongest overall Flat record at Tipperary, since it is the nearest track to Ballydoyle, but the Concorde roll of honour is spread across many yards.

None of this is a route to profit. Trends describe the past; they do not predict the next running, and the margin sits with the bookmaker. If you have a bet on Concorde Stakes Day, treat it as part of the day out, set a limit you are happy to lose and stick to it. If betting stops being fun, support is available from GambleAware at begambleaware.org, and in Ireland from the HSE and Gambling Care. Anyone under 18 must not bet.

The Concorde Stakes only makes full sense as part of Super Sunday, the fixture it headlines. This is the mixed card Tipperary stages in early October, on the first Sunday of the month, and it is the only meeting in Ireland to put Graded National Hunt races and a black-type Flat race on the same afternoon. That mix is what makes it the busiest day of the Tipperary year and draws the biggest crowd.

The Flat black type is the Concorde Stakes. Around it sit the jumps highlights: the Grade 2 Istabraq Hurdle, named after the triple Champion Hurdler who won its first three runnings and now often run under a sponsor's name, plus a Grade 3 novice hurdle and the Grade 3 Like A Butterfly Novice Chase. The result is a card that swings between codes across the afternoon, followed by live entertainment. In 2025 Super Sunday fell on 5 October, with the Concorde going off at 14:43.

The Concorde comes at the back end of the Flat season, in early October, when the big autumn targets are largely done and the black-type programme is winding down. That timing shapes the field. It tends to attract older sprinter-milers and progressive types looking for a piece of Listed black type late in the year, rather than the Classic generation who have moved on to the season's championship races by then.

Tipperary's other pattern race, the Group 3 Fairy Bridge Stakes for fillies and mares, sits on a separate August fixture over the same 7f 100y trip, so the two black-type races bookend the tail of the Flat calendar here rather than sharing a day. The wider Tipperary programme is built around summer evening and Sunday meetings from April to October, with Super Sunday as its climax.

For the full picture of the track, its other fixtures and the way the season is laid out, see the Tipperary Racecourse Complete Guide.

Tipperary racing, Concorde Stakes Day included, is broadcast on Sky Sports Racing under the track's media-rights arrangement, and results appear on the Sky Sports racing pages. That is the reliable way to follow the card if you are not there in person.

If you are going, the day is easy to reach. Tipperary is the only racecourse in Ireland sitting right beside a railway station: Limerick Junction is about a five-minute walk from the track. The station is an interchange for trains from Limerick, Dublin Heuston, Cork, Waterford, Tralee and Ennis, which makes the races reachable without a car from much of the south and west. By road the course is on the N24 between Limerick and Waterford, about two miles from Tipperary town, and free, ample parking is available at every meeting.

Admission is straightforward. Weekend fixtures, which is what Super Sunday is, cost about €15 for adults and €12 for over-65s and students, with children under 18 admitted free when accompanied by a paying adult. A general enclosure ticket covers the whole enclosure, including the Istabraq Bar and both grandstands. For a bit more, the Real Deal package (from around €32 per person, €36 on premium Friday-to-Sunday days) bundles admission, a race card, a catering voucher, a drink voucher and a €5 tote bet, and there is a lighter Punters Pack around €20 to €25.

For a sit-down, the Restaurant on the first floor of the Limerick Stand overlooks the parade ring and home straight with views out to the Silvermine Mountains, and the High Chaparral Room caters for groups. There is no strict dress code: smart casual, suited to the October weather, is the guidance across all enclosures.

A day at Concorde Stakes Day is worth planning around the racing rather than the betting. If you do have a bet, keep it to what you are happy to lose. For the full travel, tickets and hospitality detail, see the Tipperary Racecourse Complete Guide.