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From Samcro to Faugheen: Five great Dublin Racing Festival races

By Racing TV

Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023

Its component races formerly split across three different fixtures, highlighted by the Irish Champion Hurdle and Irish Gold Cup, the Dublin Racing Festival has become a true highlight of the jumps racing season since the inaugural weekend festival took place in 2018.

This weekend marks the sixth renewal, with no fewer than eight Grade Ones featuring over €2million in prize money. With its proximity to the Cheltenham Festival, Leopardstown’s weekend bonanza is a key test and last year’s meeting produced 11 subsequent Cheltenham Festival winners, including those of the Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle.

Here's our idea of the five of the greatest moments in the Festival's short history.

Samcro simply sensational as he slays his rivals in the Deloitte

(Deloitte Novice Hurdle, February 4 2018)

Samcro hammers his rivals at Leopardstown in 2018

Reputation was all with Samcro, who was sent off at 4/6 to maintain his unbeaten record despite this being his first step into Grade One company.

Prior to the event, his enigmatic owner Michael O’Leary had said “we want to let the horse do the talking”, and so he did by slamming a field of high-quality novice hurdlers.

Taking it up on the bend before the last, Jack Kennedy’s mount oozed class and bounded clear in the closing stages to record an effortless success.

In typical O’Leary style afterward, he famously said “He’s still not Jesus Christ.” O’Leary may have been right on that count, but the media coverage that would follow the horse in the run-up to Cheltenham said otherwise. The Irish had their 'Festival banker'.

The chosen route would be to the Ballymore, and he would subsequently oblige with an authoritative success at Cheltenham, further enhancing his reputation as the second coming.

The flame may not burn as bright these days, despite a memorable success in the 2020 JLT Chase, but on that Sunday afternoon, the mighty Samcro was in a league of his own.

Edwulf’s miraculous Irish Gold Cup win

(Irish Gold Cup, February 4 2018)

On March 14 2017, the Joseph O’Brien-trained Edwulf was fighting for his life at Cheltenham. Collapsing after the last in a grueling four-mile National Hunt Chase won by Tiger Roll, the son of Kayf Tara underwent life-saving treatment on track.

As O’Brien had said at the end of that difficult day: “Edwulf ran out of oxygen and collapsed. He was on the ground for about an hour and a half and it didn’t look good, but the racecourse vets, who did a terrific job, encouraged us that he might recover.”

Edwulf did indeed recover and made his return to the racecourse nine months later when pulling-up in the 2018 Leopardstown Christmas Chase won by Road To Respect.

But the JP McManus-owned gelding had proved his wellbeing sufficiently and next up would be a crack at one of Irish racing’s most prestigious prizes, the Irish Gold Cup.

Sent off the outsider of the field at 33/1, and officially the worse horse in the race with a rating of 152 (15lb lower than top-rated Our Duke), something of a miracle was needed. The man to provide it would be regular partner Derek O’Connor, one of Ireland’s most esteemed amateur riders.

Racing towards the rear for the majority of the contest, the bay made his move on the home turn before arriving upsides at the last. The final challenger would be course specialist Outlander, but Edwulf would stay on tenaciously on the run-in to claim the spoils by a neck.

Joseph O'Brien tells Donn McClean the story of Edwulf's recovery

O’Connor, the first amateur to win the race, said in the aftermath: “When you think about what was going through our heads at the back of the last fence at Cheltenham, it’s incredible to think that Edwulf has come back and won a Grade One. It looked as if he would never race again. It’s been an incredible training performance by Joseph”.

An impossible dream made possible. Aidan, it seemed, was not the only O’Brien that could turn water into wine.

Superstar Mare Apple’s Jade delights her supporters again

(Irish Champion Hurdle, February 2 2019)

Apple’s Jade had long been a fan favourite with her swashbuckling front-running style, which had landed her nine previous Grade Ones before she took in the 2019 Irish Champion Hurdle as an 8/11 favourite.

Campaigned over two and a half to three miles since the backend of 2016, there were fears that the drop to the minimum trip would see her struggle, but those were allayed in no time as the daughter of Saddler Maker drew clear off the home turn from old rival Supasundae.

Well clear in the final furlong, she came home to cheers and the cho of Jerry Hannon’s commentary: “She is simply in a class of her own this season... a wowing performance from Apple’s Jade.”

With a superb ride from the front by Jack Kennedy, she had filleted a six-strong field by 16 lengths, and in the process became the first mare in 16 years to win the race.

A great interview between Nick Luck and Gordon Elliott in the aftermath

In the aftermath, the clamour for Apple’s Jade to now be diverted to the Champion Hurdle was clear. Trainer Gordon Elliot, who had previously suggested that she would be lapped in the premier two-mile hurdling event, did at least stop short of ruling it out. “She’s in all of them, so we will discuss it - everything is a possibility.

Rider Kennedy, like Elliot winning the race for the first time, could barely contain his adoration for the mare, “Oh wow,” he gushed. “It doesn’t matter what trip, she’s just unreal. She’s the best hurdler I’ve sat on and she makes good horses look ordinary.”

Gigginstown and Elliot would indeed decide to take the plunge at Cheltenham and take on the boys, going off the 7/4 favourite for the Champion Hurdle, though things did not go to plan as she finished a distant sixth. The great mare would have one final swansong though, as she ran away with the Grade One Frank Ward Memorial Hurdle at Leopardstown’s 2019 Christmas Festival.

A star reborn as Faugheen The Machine delights Dublin

(Flogas Novice Chase, February 2 2020)

Faugheen "delights his many fans at Leopardstown" with this success

It takes a special type of horse to build up the sort of following that the mighty Faugheen did. At one point he seemed invincible, unstoppable, and a bully of his rivals, but injury so often finishes careers and it seemed the same fate might await the Machine after 22 months off the track with a suspensory injury between January 2016 and November 2017.

Thankfully that wasn’t to be, and his comeback is one that will live long in the memory - one which saw him embark upon a novice chasing career at the age of 11, having been beaten four times the previous season over hurdles.

The first test came at Punchestown when he forged clear by seven and a half lengths, followed by a memorable Grade One triumph at Limerick over Christmas 2019, when he put the young pretender Samcro to the sword.

There was one more great victory to come though. On a glorious afternoon at Leopardstown during the 2020 Dublin Racing Festival, a marvel of modern jumps racing simply brought the house down as he fended off stablemate Easy Game in an enthralling finish to the Flogas Novice Chase.

It was a win that encapsulated everything about Faugheen. He was brave, tough, and – most crucially – resilient, while completely throwing any historical trends out the window by landing a Grade One novice chase at the age of 12. Sparking scenes of euphoria among the attendance post-race, owner Rich Ricci reacted emotionally: “It was magic, super, fantastic. Golly, Faugheen was brilliant. It’s spectacular for all the people here.”

Rich Ricci talks to Nick Luck in the aftermath of this memorable success

A spectacular occasion it was and a nervous one for his genius trainer Willie Mullins. “I was praying for Faugheen, so I was...” he said.

“The two (Easy Game) of them had been running and jumping fantastic, but I wanted Faugheen to win in a big way. I would have been gutted if he had been beaten.”

Honeysuckle and Blackmore make it a perfect 10

(Irish Champion Hurdle, February 6 2021)

How often did we hear the words ‘This is the biggest test Honeysuckle has ever faced’ when she lined up in the 2021 Chanelle Pharm Irish Champion Hurdle.

Honeysuckle dispatches a high-class field in style 12 months ago

While the unbeaten mare had won the race the previous year, she finished clear of the 146-rated Darver Star and the veteran Petit Mouchoir. But in this race, the entire field were rated 157 or higher, with course specialist Sharjah proven as being such a hard nut to crack. The task was apparent, but now it was time to see whether Honeysuckle warranted superstar status.

The Dublin Racing Festival is jumps racing’s version of Ireland’s Got Talent and Honeysuckle would score the perfect ten, as Rachael Blackmore’s mount took it up with ease from four out before stretching clear in the closing stages for an impressive success. Doubts had been silenced. This was a different Honeysuckle, a slicker, shaper, and speedier version of the mare that scraped home in the Hatton’s Grace at Fairyhouse the previous November. That had been workmanlike. This was wonderful.

At a time when empty enclosures and eerie silences dominated the Covid world of racing behind closed doors, Honeysuckle’s dazzling display was a welcome tonic.

“She was just deadly and Henry has just done an unbelievable job with her. She’s got plenty of pace and you do whatever you want with her now,” Blackmore enthused.

For any trainer to get a horse winning 10 races in a row is remarkable, but for the latest five of those to be in Grade One company was an even more incredible feat by Henry De Bromhead.

“She was brilliant. It was what we hoped she’d do and she did it. Rachael was brilliant on her and she was just class,” he said.

The sequence would not end there as the majestic mare would go one to record emphatic victories at both Cheltenham and Punchestown.

Next Sunday could see her extend that unbeaten run to 14 with a third straight Irish Champion Hurdle success.

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