Faugheen

Faugheen
Faugheen winning the 2015 Champion Hurdle
Sire	Germany
Grandsire	Trempolino
Dam	Miss Pickering
Damsire	Accordion
Sex	Gelding
Foaled	2 May 2008[1]
Country	Ireland
Colour	Bay
Breeder	John Waldron
Owner	Susannah Ricci
Trainer	Willie Mullins
Record	26: 17-3-1 4:3-0-1 (Steeplechase) 21:13-3-1 (Hurdles) 1:1-0-0 (Bumpers) 1:1-0-0 (PTP)
Earnings	£1,116,679
Major wins
Dorans Pride Novice Hurdle (2013) Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdle (2014) Herald Champion Novice Hurdle (2014) Ascot Hurdle (2014) Christmas Hurdle (2014, 2015) Champion Hurdle (2015) Punchestown Champion Hurdle (2015) Irish Champion Hurdle (2016) Morgiana Hurdle (2017) Champion Stayers Hurdle (2018) Greenmount Park Novice Chase (2019) Flogas Novice Chase (2020)
Awards
Irish Horse of the Year (2015)
Honours
Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick Racecourse

Faugheen (foaled 2 May 2008) is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2015 Champion Hurdle and back-to-back Christmas Hurdles in 2014 and 2015. His best performance on a racecourse came in the 2016 Irish Champion Hurdle for which he was rated the best two-mile hurdler of the 21st century. His career started over Point-to-point fences as a four-year-old and was sent racing under National Hunt rules in the 2013/2014 season where he emerged as a leading Novice hurdler, winning all of his races including the Dorans Pride Novice Hurdle, Cheltenham Novices Hurdle and Herald Champion Novice Hurdle acquiring the nickname "The Machine" in the process.^[2]

Faugheen continued his undefeated run in the next season out of Novices company when he was kept over hurdles, winning his first three races in Britain with victories at Ascot and a month later in the Christmas Hurdle, followed with a win at the highest level in the Champion Hurdle, defeating a strong field that included two previous champions. He finished the 2014/2015 National Hunt campaign with a perfect record by taking the Punchestown Champion Hurdle and was marked by the Anglo-Irish and Timeform handicappers as the highest rated hurdler in training.^[3]

Faugheen faced the first defeat of his career on his seasonal reappearance in the 2015/2016 National Hunt campaign but bounced back with victories in the Grade 1 Christmas Hurdle by 7 lengths in December 2015 and in the next month he took the Irish Champion Hurdle by 15 lengths, the widest winning margin in the race's history. Shortly thereafter he suffered a small injury when resuming training for the Cheltenham Festival and missed the rest of the season. Further injuries kept him out for the 2016/2017 season, and he returned to the racecourse in November 2017 with victory in the Morgiana Hurdle. A lacklustre performance saw him pulled up in the December Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown. He was beaten into second place in the Irish Champion Hurdle and there was a disappointing performance in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham before his final race of the 2017/2018 season saw a return to form with victory in the Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown.

The 2018/2019 season was Faugheen's first season on the racecourse without a win. He came second in the Morgiana Hurdle and experienced the first fall of his career in the Christmas Hurdle. At the Cheltenham Festival he was placed third in the Stayers' Hurdle and at Aintree was pulled up in the Aintree Hurdle. In October 2019 trainer Willie Mullins announced that the 11 year old would start a novice chasing campaign. Faugheen made his debut over fences with a win in a Beginners Chase at Punchestown in November 2019 and followed it up on 26 December at Limerick with victory in the Grade 1 Greenmount Park Novice Chase. Another win at the Dublin Racing Festival in February 2020 took Faugheen's record to 17 wins in 25 races, with eleven Grade One wins. He came third in the Marsh Novices' Chase at the 2020 Cheltenham Festival, in what was to be his last appearance in a race. His retirement was announced in May 2021 and he joined the living legends at the Irish National Stud.