IT’S that time of year when the spring festivals are upon us and the time was, it was the place to turn out and welcome home the marauding heroes who bashed the British at Cheltenham

All hail the Mullins/Elliott A Team that brought national pride, Festival joy and profit. It should be time to let the B team have a look in. But the problem with our jumping scene is the B team is also Mullins/Elliott.

This weekend tells the story. The two dominant stables have nine runners between them in the Ryanair Chase at Fairyhouse, and in the Irish Grand National account for 17 of the 30 runners.

We have a mini Shergar Cup without knowing it – Willie v Gordon v the Rest of Ireland. Between them they have won €7,681,400 in prize money so far this season to Henry de Bromhead’s €1,358,618.

We acknowledge their undoubted horse skills but when the spotlight turns to the home Festival meetings, the state of NH racing looks a little different. No matter how much we enjoyed Cheltenham success, can it be good for the continuing future of winter jump racing?

We have a jumps season that is going to be dead until Christmas, dormant again until Leopardstown in February by which time the Festival and stay-at-home teams will be decided with the latter kept in reserve to hoover up the big handicaps at Fairyhouse and Punchestown.

Colin Tizzard, interviewed after he had got on the Festival scoreboard with Kilbricken Storm, noted: “I got big owners but even they couldn’t handle what the prices were last night (at the Festival Sale).”

Tizzard’s novice hurdle winner Kilbricken Storm was bought for €22,000 last year as a six-year-old. An exception to the general trade these days. The previous day we had Ballymore winner Samcro bought for £335,000 two years earlier.

We saw from the Festival sale that the appetite for pointers is still there but we had handler Sean Doyle say in an ATR interview: “We just seem to be in this big game of poker now, and we can’t really get out. The poker face is on and you have to keep going.”

But if all the cards are with a few players? For all the success, you can’t help but feel it’s a sport now built on shaky foundations.