So many astonishing horses and humans have pushed back the boundaries - yet two Irish legends stand head and shoulders above all

There have been so many major records broken this century that many who demand a mention nonetheless don’t make the list of the 25 most notable record-breakers below.

These include record-margin winners Harbinger (2010 King George by 11 lengths), Bristol De Mai (2017 Betfair Chase by 57 lengths), Espoir D'Allen (2019 Champion Hurdle by 15 lengths) and Snowfall (2021 Oaks by 16 lengths). Among the winningmost horses in various categories are Quevega with six Cheltenham Festival wins, Yeats with four Ascot Gold Cups and Enable with three King Georges, while Sea The Stars won six Group 1s in one year (2009)  and Honeysuckle landed 11 Grade 1s in succession.

Romantic Warrior has just replaced another Hong Kong champion, Golden Sixty, as the world's leading earner with £17,890,883 in prize-money; Workforce set the fastest time for the Derby with 2min 31.33sec in 2010; and He Knows No Fear (Leopardstown 2020) and Sawbuck (Punchestown 2022) became, at 300-1, the longest-priced winners ever in Ireland or Britain.