CHELTENHAM, as always had plenty of memorable moments. When history looks back on the 2016 festival, it will headline with Sprinter Sacre’s emotional return in the Champion Chase.

I cannot recall a roar like it when it became apparent that he had not only taken control of the race but was going to hang on to it.

Everybody has a different perspective on outcomes, be it the punter or the bookmaker, the trainer or the jockey, the breeder or the owner. My own priority, not just for the Goffs horses but as a bloodstock marketeer’s perspective, is also slightly different.

With my Meath/ Westmeath hat, Don Cossack’s Gold Cup was a highlight and the loss of No More Heroes the low point. In addition to those most obviously associated, I also felt for his breeders Peter and Anne Downes in Mullingar who have dedicated many years to breeding steeplechasers of the highest quality.

Goffs graduates fortunately delivered for trainers on both sides of the sea with the headline Land Rover Sale horses being Grade 1 winners Altior and Black Hercules for the Henderson and Mullins yards respectively.

Champion hurdler Annie Power was sold in utero at the 2007 Goffs November Sales which is a slightly less direct association but one that any sales company would be proud to have.

So many things about the festival are hugely admirable but one negative observation is the officialising of the Ireland versus England competition.

I think that racegoers had always managed to work this out for themselves and more importantly, Cheltenham is about a gathering of sharing an appreciation of National Hunt racing and its best protagonists rather than dividing it.

Having spent my childhood in Lambourn, as Irish an enclave of England at the time as Cricklewood or Kilburn, I have certain allegiances there as well so perhaps I am alone in finding the whole thing a little over-contrived.

The “challenge“ this year was run under the banner of the BetBright Cup and featured team captains Robert “Choc” Thornton for Team GB and Hector O’Hula Hoop - as I heard one Cotswold native refer to him - for Ireland. I only hope that neither were issuing Martin O’Neill or Joe Schmidt-type briefings to Messrs Henderson, Mullins, Twiston-Davies and Elliott ahead of proceedings.

The thing is that, although a horse will represent one of the teams, a horse from the other side may well have the greater support of any member of the crowd - emotional as much as financial.

A good example was the third British winner. He was the Irish-bred Minella Rocco who was sold as both a foal and a yearling in Goffs and again as a store in Fairyhouse. He is owned by J.P. McManus, trained by Jonjo O’Neill and was ridden (masterfully) by Derek O’Connor.

The most British part about it was probably the logo on the jockey’s leg. Derek is sponsored by DBS but, as the company will change its name next week to Goffs UK, even the name on his breeches will henceforth be as closely associated with this side of the Irish Sea.

As it happens 14 winners were trained in both countries. I was not there on Friday so maybe it was nail biting stuff at the end, but only, I imagine, for those brave few who had backed Ireland to have 14 or 15 winners. Either way I am pleased that there was no winner and no loser in this particular contest.

BLOODSTOCK MARKETING

From a bloodstock marketing point of view the key point was that the four main races of the festival were won by horses bred in four different countries, Ireland, France, Great Britain and Germany. There was less variety in their breeding as two of these were by sons of Sadler’s Wells and the other two by sons of Monsun.

Happily 15 of the week’s 28 winners were born in Ireland, including four of Willie Mullins’ seven winners.

Despite 14 official “Irish” winners, only three winners can claim to be bred in Ireland, trained in Ireland and owned by people who live in Ireland. I will leave you to remember which these were.