How Many Times Has Aidan O’Brien Won The Irish Champion Stakes?

Leopardstown racecourse gets set to stage one of its biggest meetings of the year this Saturday (13th Sept) – with the Irish Champion Stakes 2025 the big highlight.

The €700,000 race always attracts some of the best middle distance horses from around the world and it’s also a prize the Ballydoyle team have won many times.

But just how many times has Aidan O’Brien landed the Irish Champion Stakes?

We answer this question below as the O’Brien maestro looks to add to his tally with a number of entries in 2025 – headed by his Coral-Eclipse Stakes winner Delacroix.

Aidan O’Brien Has Won The Irish Champion Stakes a Record 12 Times

No trainer in the history of the Irish Champion Stakes has won the race more times than Aidan O’Brien.

The Ballydoyle maestro has mopped up a staggering 12 successes over the years and he’s certainly not finished yet.

Of those 12 wins, Dylan Thomas (2006 & 2007) and Magical (2019 & 2020) were his double winners.

While he’s taken the prize with other great equine stars over the years – including High Chaparral and So You Think.

O’Brien’s First Irish Champion Stakes Winner Was Giant’s Causeway in 2000

Giant’s Causeway was billed as one of the toughest racehorses in the modern era and it was this son of Storm Cat that got the Aidan O’Brien winning haul in the Irish Champion Stakes off and running (watch below).

Owned by John Magnier and Michael Tabor, Giant’s Causeway was as tough as they came and added the Irish Champion Stakes to his already impressive CV in 2000.

It was in fact to be Giant’s Causeways last ever win too, as despite running twice more after this Leopardstown win – he only managed close seconds in the QE II Stakes at Ascot and Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

During his 13-race career Giant’s Causeway won nine times and finished in the first two in ALL his starts – winning a staggering £2,031,426 in total prize money in the process. Which would be worth even more in today’s cash climate.

Giant’s Causeway was ridden in all-bar-one of his career starts by top Irish jockey Mick Kinane, who is also the most successful rider in the race with seven wins.

The only other rider to get the leg-up on Giant’s Causeway was George Duffield, who guided him home in an epic battle with Kalanisi in the 2000 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.

The Most Recent Aidan O’Brien Winner Was Auguste Rodin in 2023

It was only in 2023 that Aidan O’Brien gained his twelfth win in the Leopardstown race – which came with the Epsom Derby winner Auguste Rodin.

This 3 year-old saw off his stablemate Luxembourg by 1/2 a length (watch below) to give rider Ryan Moore his fifth win in the race and his third since 2021.

Auguste Rodin came back in 2024, but failed by just a neck to become only the third ever back-to-back winner of the race.

Beaten 12 months ago by the William Haggas-trained Economics (watch below).

Aidan O’Brien Has Won Five Of The Last Six Irish Champion Stakes

With an impressive tally of 12 Irish Champion Stakes winners, Aidan O’Brien has made this top Group One race his own – with five of those successes coming in the last six renewals.

All Of Aidan O’Brien’s Irish Champion Stakes Winners

Aidan O’Brien’s Irish Champion Stakes 2025 Runners

The final declarations for the Irish Champion Stakes 2025 runners will be out on Thursday 11th September.

Here are the possible Aidan O’Brien runners in the race.

When Is The Irish Champion Stakes 2025?

📅Date: Saturday 13th September 2025
⌚Time: 5:30pm
🏇Racecourse: Leopardstown (1m 2f)
💰Winning Purse: €712,500
📺 TV: Racing TV

Who Is The 2025 Irish Champion Stakes Favourite?

The horse racing betting sites are suggesting Delacroix is the one to beat – having the Aidan O’Brien-trained 3 year-old in as clear favourite.

Delacroix had been second best in the market to Ombudsman, who beat him in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York recently (watch below).

But connections of the Godolphin horse have opted to bypass a trip to Leopardstown – with an autumn campaign preferred.

Delacroix will be looking to become the seventh Irish Champion Stakes winning favourite since 2015 and also give O’Brien a record-extending thirteenth success in this Group One.

Irish Champion Stakes Winners (Since 2014)