THERE was another small twist in the 2017 Irish jockeys’ championship road when Colin Keane had two winners from six rides at Gowran Park on Wednesday and Pat Smullen had none.

It wasn’t quite as significant a twist as there was at Roscommon on the last Monday in August, when Smullen had a four-timer, nor at Dundalk on the last Friday in September, when Keane had a treble. Nor at Dundalk last Friday night, when Smullen won on his first four rides and was beaten a short-head on his fifth, Bold Knight, in the last race, by Thunder Crash, who was ridden by Keane. (You couldn’t have written it.)

But it was still a twist and it left Keane three clear again, 84 to 81.

This is brilliant theatre. It has to be tough on the two jockeys, the effort that is involved, the work rate, no let up. You can tell how desperately they both want it, and you can tell how desperately their respective bosses Dermot Weld and Ger Lyons want it for them. But it is great for the onlookers, us, the audience, and it is great for racing.

The opportunity is there to be maximised. This battle should be of interest to an audience that is outside the core racing audience. It is a rare opportunity to draw the casual sports enthusiast in. A duel between two top-class sportspeople for a title is an entity to which general sports fans can relate.

We are a little spoiled because we had similar drama at the end of the National Hunt season last April when the Willie Mullins/Gordon Elliott duel went all the way down the home straight to the last day of the Punchestown Festival, the last day of the season. That one was, as this one is, a fascinating undercurrent to the season.

Pat Smullen is a great champion, a worthy champion, a world-class rider, proven at home and on the greatest stages of the racing world. Champion jockey nine times, a 10th would be some achievement, and he would be fully deserving of that milestone.

Colin Keane does not have the international profile that Pat Smullen has, not yet, but there is no doubting his talent. He is a top-class rider, it is difficult to believe that he is only 23 and he would be a worthy champion.

There has been an ebb and flow to this one all season. At the end of July, the bookmakers made Keane a 4/11 shot to win the title, while Smullen was as big as 3/1. Towards the end of September, Smullen was a 1/6 shot while Keane had drifted to 11/2.

Before racing at Dundalk last night, they bet 4/6 Keane, 11/10 Smullen, but you can be sure that there will be more twists and turns before the champion is crowned at Naas on November 5th.