PRIZE pots for the feature races at Ballybrit next week put the Cheltenham Festival in the shade when it comes to what’s on offer for winning a handicap at Prestbury Park in March.

Anyone who turned up at a store sale in recent weeks can attest to the fact that the cost of buying horses capable of competing at National Hunt racing’s top table has been skyrocketing, yet the reward for nearly half the entire programme at the Cheltenham Festival doesn’t reflect that.

None of the 12 handicaps at the four-day meeting are worth more than £150,000. In comparison, next week’s Tote Galway Plate and Guinness Galway Hurdle are worth a cool €270,000 each.

To put that in context, there is more prize money up for grabs in the Galway Plate alone than is on the table for the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle, the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap Chase and Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase combined.

Even if you threw in the McCoy Contractors Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle too, the prize pot for those four Cheltenham handicaps amounts to £300,000 - not far off the €270,000 available in the Galway Hurdle.

In short, the Plate and Hurdle combined - a double that Gordon Elliott achieved 12 months ago - are worth €540,000. Combined prize money for the County Hurdle, BetMGM Cup, National Hunt Novices’ Handicap Chase, Fred Winter, Martin Pipe and Cross Country Chase - six Cheltenham handicaps - comes to a not dissimilar £550,000.

There has been no escaping the fact either that handicaps have been the best source of winners for British-trained runners when taking on the Irish challenge for a number of years now.

Area of strength

After Old Park Star won this year’s Supreme Novices’ Hurdle for the hosts, Ireland had a clean sweep of the remaining Grade 1s and championship races, except for Johnny’s Jury in the Albert Bartlett. In contrast, the British-trained horses absolutely dominated the handicap category in 2026. Nine out of the 12 handicaps - 75% - went the way of the hosts. They also filled nearly two thirds of the first three places (61%) up for grabs.

Against that backdrop, it beggars belief how there are no remaining British-trained entries for next week’s Galway Plate and Galway Hurdle. The Real Whacker, trained by Paddy Neville, had been entered for the Plate but the 10-year-old was not among the confirmations this week.

In 2019, another British-trained Grade 1 winner, Black Corton, went close to plundering the Plate for Paul Nicholls, who also saddled sixth-placed Modus to finish in the prize money that year. It is highly surprising that only two overseas raiders have tried their luck in the race in the six renewals that have followed.

As for the Hurdle, you only have to look back at the 2021 edition when Neil Mulholland’s Milkwood finished second behind Saldier and departed with a pay cheque of €50,000. A year earlier, Olly Murphy saw Hunters Call finish fourth in the same event, while Leoncavallo (Dr Richard Newland) and Bedrock (Iain Jardine) finished third and fourth respectively in 2018.

How many British runners have been given the chance to run in the Hurdle field since Milkwood? A measly two. One of them, Under Control, took home a share of the minor prize money in 2024 for Nicky Henderson and J.P. McManus.

That lack of interest in two massive pots from our neighbours is all the more keenly felt when entries indicate we are dealing with less competitive races than usual for Ballybrit’s feature events this summer. It was eye-catching last week to find just 24 horses in contention for Hurdle honours (are we really going to see a full field of 20 this year after declarations?) and 32 entered for the Plate.

Opportunities available

Gordon Elliott said what many of us thought after seeing the possible Hurdle field this week, noting: “This looks like a competitive race without being a wonderful race; there are a lot of exposed horses in there.”

So many of the major British handicaps last season were masterfully pinpointed by Dan Skelton. While he clearly has an eye on setting new records in Britain and will have an obvious priority for home contests, one could argue that this year’s races are there for the taking if he put his mind to the task with one of his smarter handicap prospects. There would be a significant payday in the offing.

That said, Skelton is an infrequent visitor to these shores anyway. He has only had two Irish runners since 2020, the most recent coming at the 2023 Punchestown Festival. In total, he has sent out just 13 Irish runners in nearly 12 years. When a lack of Skelton involvement could have been assumed, it’s mind boggling that other British handlers weren’t tempted to seize an opportunity for huge prize pots in attractive waters. After seeing Irish horses running into a brick wall against the home team in many of the Cheltenham Festival’s handicaps a few months ago, it’s highly likely the British could have looked attractive at Ballybrit - and added much needed depth to our features.