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See the Dublin Racing Festival live hubDublin Racing Festival 2026: the results
The Dublin Racing Festival was scheduled to run on Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February 2026 at Leopardstown, but the weather had other ideas. Heavy overnight rain (Clerk of the Course Paddy Graffin reported a further 17mm falling on top of earlier downpours) left the track unraceable on the Saturday morning, and the Day 1 card was abandoned and rescheduled to Monday 2 February. The Sunday Day 2 card went ahead as planned, so racing at the 2026 festival was actually run across Sunday 1 February and Monday 2 February, in reverse order to the printed programme.
That quirk aside, this was still the full eight-Grade-1 festival: Sunday carried the Irish Champion Hurdle, the Dublin Chase, the Dr P.J. Moriarty Novice Chase and the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle (the original Day 2 card), while the rescheduled Monday carried the Irish Gold Cup, the Irish Arkle Novice Chase, the Golden Cygnet Novice Hurdle and the Spring Juvenile Hurdle (the original Day 1 card). This is the results hub for both days: every Grade 1 winner, with starting prices, added and verified from source.
Willie Mullins's stable won five of the eight Grade 1s, but the two biggest shocks of the weekend both went against him: Gordon Elliott's Brighterdaysahead upset odds-on favourite and stablemate-beater Lossiemouth in the Irish Champion Hurdle, and JP McManus's Kaid D'Authie, sent off at 5/1, upstaged fellow Mullins runner and hot favourite Final Demand in the Dr P.J. Moriarty Novice Chase.
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Sunday 1 February: Brighterdaysahead ends the Mullins run in the Champion Hurdle
The Irish Champion Hurdle produced the story of the meeting. Brighterdaysahead, sent off at 11/4 for Gordon Elliott and ridden by Jack Kennedy, beat odds-on favourite Lossiemouth (4/6, Paul Townend, Willie Mullins) by three and a quarter lengths on heavy ground, reversing the pair's placings from the December Hurdle at the same course. It ended a run of three straight wins for Mullins's State Man (2023 to 2025) and denied the stable a fourth in a row in Ireland's premier hurdling championship. Poniros and Anzadam, both also trained by Mullins, filled third and fourth.
Willie Mullins still won three of the day's four Grade 1s. Majborough (2/1, Mark Walsh) romped away with the Dublin Chase, stamping his class on the field with a dominant 19-length win over Marine Nationale, the 5/4 favourite, with Found A Fifty and stable-mate Energumene completing the frame. Talk The Talk (3/1 favourite, JJ Slevin) denied Mullins in the Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle, though: trained by Joseph O'Brien, he got up in the last stride to beat the front-running Ballyfad by a short head, redemption after falling at the last flight in the same race's Christmas trial won by Ballyfad the previous month.
The other shock of the day came in the Dr P.J. Moriarty Novice Chase, where Kaid D'Authie (5/1, Mark Walsh, JP McManus's colours) beat stable-mate and well-backed favourite Final Demand, who trailed home last of three finishers after the fourth Mullins runner, Jimmy Du Seuil, fell at the final fence. Mullins credited cheekpieces, fitted for the first time, for the improvement. Western Fold, trained by Gordon Elliott, was second.
Sunday 1 February winners
| Race | Winner | SP | Jockey / Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Handicap Hurdle (Listed) | Cousin Kate | 13/2 | Michael Kenneally / D Hogan |
| Dr P.J. Moriarty Novice Chase (Grade 1) | Kaid D'Authie | 5/1 | Mark Walsh / W P Mullins |
| Tattersalls Ireland Novice Hurdle (Grade 1) | Talk The Talk | 3/1 | J J Slevin / J P O'Brien |
| Dublin Chase (Grade 1) | Majborough | 2/1 | Mark Walsh / W P Mullins |
| Leopardstown Handicap Chase (Grade 3) | Backmersackme | 14/1 | S Bowen / E Mullins |
| Irish Champion Hurdle (Grade 1) | Brighterdaysahead | 11/4 | Jack Kennedy / G Elliott |
| Leopardstown Golf Handicap Hurdle (Listed) | Bowensonfire | 10/1 | Jack Kennedy / G Elliott |
| Coolmore NH Sires Mares INH Flat Race (Grade 2) | Moonverrin | 20/1 | Mr F Maguire / M Hassett |
The ground was given as heavy for the day's Grade 1s and soft for the chases, and only two of the day's eight winners went off favourite. The rescheduled Day 1 card, including the Irish Gold Cup, followed on the Monday.
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Monday 2 February: Fact To File denies Galopin Des Champs a fourth Gold Cup
The rescheduled Day 1 card, moved by 48 hours after Saturday's abandonment, closed with the Irish Gold Cup. Fact To File (9/2, Mark Walsh) quickened clear to win by five lengths, denying stablemate Galopin Des Champs a record-equalling fourth consecutive victory in the race. It was a Willie Mullins 1-2-3: amateur rider Patrick Mullins brought Gaelic Warrior home second, with Galopin Des Champs edging out Firefox for third. The result meant Mullins had trained the winner for the 13th time in the race's history.
It capped a big day for Mark Walsh, who rode three of Monday's four Grade 1 winners. He had already opened the card's Grade 1 account on Narciso Has (Evens favourite) in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle, a four-and-a-half-length win over stablemate Selma De Vary that made the JP McManus-owned four-year-old the ante-post favourite for the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham (a plan since scrapped after a training setback). Walsh's third came later on Fact To File in the Gold Cup.
Willie Mullins won three of the four Grade 1s on the card. Doctor Steinberg (7/4, Paul Townend) opened the meeting's second day with an eight-length win over Kazansky in the Golden Cygnet Novice Hurdle, running away with it to strengthen his claims for the Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham. The exception was the Irish Arkle Novice Chase, run in a field of just three: Romeo Coolio (4/9 favourite, Jack Kennedy) dug deep to hold off fellow novice Kargese by half a length for Gordon Elliott, with Downmexicoway a distant third.
Monday 2 February winners
| Race | Winner | SP | Jockey / Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Cygnet Novice Hurdle (Grade 1) | Doctor Steinberg | 7/4 | Paul Townend / W P Mullins |
| Spring Juvenile Hurdle (Grade 1) | Narciso Has | Evens | Mark Walsh / W P Mullins |
| Race & Stay Handicap Hurdle (Listed) | Saint Le Fort | 10/1 | Niall Moore / P Fenton |
| Irish Arkle Novice Chase (Grade 1) | Romeo Coolio | 4/9 | Jack Kennedy / G Elliott |
| Irish Gold Cup (Grade 1) | Fact To File | 9/2 | Mark Walsh / W P Mullins |
| Barberstown Castle Handicap Chase (Listed) | Jacob's Ladder | 2/1 | Jack Kennedy / G Elliott |
| Cheltenham Countdown Podcast INH Flat Race (Grade 2) | Broadway Ted | 18/1 | Mr B O'Neill / G Elliott |
The going was given as heavy for the earlier races and soft for the chases. Across the two rescheduled days, Willie Mullins's stable won five of the eight Grade 1s, with Gordon Elliott and Joseph O'Brien taking the other three, including two of the meeting's biggest shocks. For the fuller festival programme and the eight Grade 1s' history, see the Dublin Racing Festival guide.
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