MUCH was made of the dominance of Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins last week. Again, it is to be celebrated. Two trainers, two Irish trainers, scaling peaks that appeared to be insurmountable less than a decade ago. And the duel is good. They push each other to go higher and, in so doing, they push the bar higher. They push others to stretch.

They have both got there on their own too. Willie Mullins may be the son of the legendary Paddy Mullins, but he still built his training operation up from the bottom. It is just over 20 years since Tourist Attraction and Wither Or Which. There were no golden spoons, no fast tracks to the top.

Same with Gordon Elliott, only different and more recent. It is only 11 years since Silver Birch. Difficult to believe now – even though it is well-documented, it is still difficult to believe – that he hadn’t had a winner in Ireland then.

COMPARISONS

And if there is dominance, it is no different to how it is in just about every other walk of competitive life. In sport, in politics, in business.

Not everybody can be the best. Not everybody can be President. Not everybody can be CEO. There is a pyramid.

Since the Premier League was founded in 1992/93, only five clubs have been champions more than once. And in the last decade, only seven different clubs have been represented in the first three in the final standings at the end of a season. All 30 places have been filled by some combination of three from just seven clubs.

There have been just five different All-Ireland Senior Football champions since 2004, and just seven different counties have contested those finals. There have been just five different All-Ireland Senior Hurling Champions since 2001, with, again, just seven different finalists.

The bar continues to gain altitude in the pursuit of excellence.