THE days when we pushed our way through the crowds at Leopardstown and roared when the tapes went up at Cheltenham seem a lifetime ago now. All our worlds were turned upside down in 2020 but we are still here and still racing.

Plenty of things will be different this Christmas. They can close our pubs, they can cancel our New Year’s Eve parties but nothing can stop The Irish Field Christmas quiz.

So, gather around the fireplace, open that tin of USA biscuits and Lidl-brand cola, and let the games begin.

The prizes

? 12-month subscription to Irish Country Magazine

? €50 Tote voucher

? Signed copy of Barry Geraghty’s book, True Colours

To enter, just email your answers to fieldcomp@theirishfield.ie by Monday, January 4th. Put ‘Christmas Quiz’ in the subject header and remember to include your name and full postal address. Just one email entry allowed per email address. Or you can post your answers to Christmas Quiz, The Irish Field, Irish Farm Centre, Bluebell, Dublin 12.

Irish racing

Q1: Name the horse who landed a gamble in a Navan handicap hurdle off a mark of 84 in September and has since won two more handicap hurdles and two flat races, and is now rated 141 over hurdles.

Q2: I have won all 10 of my lifetime starts to-date, including five Grade 1 races and one point-to-point. Who am I?

Q3: Name the £600 purchase who has won a listed race and Grade 3 over hurdles recently.

Q4. Which one of these statements about the 2020 Irish turf flat season is false?

a> Ado McGuinness finished in the top 10 trainers.

b> Jessica Harrington had more runners than Aidan O’Brien.

c> Johnny Murtagh had more winners than Jim Bolger.

d> Seamie Heffernan won more prize money in Ireland than any other flat jockey in 2020.

Q5: I won my second ‘National’ this year though very few of my 69 owners were there to see it. Who am I?

British racing

Q6: J.P. McManus had six winners at the 2020 Cheltenham Festival. Barry Geraghty rode five of them. Who rode the other one?

Q7: “We had to switch around and he just showed the most electric turn of foot. To give weight away to younger horses and pick them up the way he did was special really.” What horse was Jim Crowley talking about after one of the most exciting big races of the summer?

Q8: What trainer saddled the first two home in the opening race at Newcastle on June 1st, the day racing resumed in Britain after a two-month break?

Q9: The La Pyle Partnership only have one horse but he won two Group 2 races for his owners in 2020. Name the horse and the races he won. (There’s a clue in the partnership name).

Q10: Name the three Group 1 winners in Britain ridden by Oisin Murphy in 2020.

International

Q11: Name the jockey who was champion overseas for the fourth time in 2020 with 147 winners.

Q12: After a seven-week break, racing in Germany resumed in early May, a month earlier than in Britain or Ireland. Which German racecourse staged that first meeting?

Q13: “I better give my Mum and Dad a shout-out too. My brothers and sisters … my brothers. Sorry, I don’t have any sisters.” Who gave this memorable post-race interview in 2020?

Q14: Name the two Grade 1-winning trainers who were among the 27 people indicted on federal charges by the FBI in March in connection with the use of performance-enhancing drugs on racehorses.

Q15: Who became the first woman to ride a Group 1 winner in France this year?

Breeding

Q16: Identify these horses who won big races in 2020

a> 5yo b m by Jukebox Jury out of Palace Princess

b> 3yo b/br c by First Defence out of Bird Flown

c> 7yo b g by Soldier Of Fortune out of Ymlaen

d> 4yo ch f by Galileo out of Polished Gem

e> 4yo ch f by Shamadal out of Tarana

Q17: Name the three horses bred by Jim Bolger who won Group 1 races in the space of 10 days this year.

Q18: What stallion will Enable reportedly visit in 2021?

Q19: Name the stallion, fully-booked for 2021 at a fee of $225,000, who was responsible for the 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner.

Q20: Name the three-year-old bred in Ireland, sold in England and winner of two Group 1 races in Australia this year.

Sales

Q21: “She is a very nice filly, she is a very nice mover, like Japan and Mogul. The mare produces great-looking stock and great racehorses, let’s hope she does it one more time.” Who said those words in October after spending 3.4 million guineas?

Q22: Who bought an unraced two-year-old for £28,000 on July 1st and, before the end of that month, had won a maiden and Group 3 race with the colt?

Q23: Who will train the €300,000 Walk In The Park half-sister to Altior, which topped the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale this year?

Q24: Name the horse sold for €165,000 in the first ever Goffs “timed online sale” last month.

Q25: Name the 2020 Cheltenham Festival winner, pictured on the next page, in the Tattersalls Cheltenham sales ring in May 2018.