FAIR warning. If you’re allergic to the thought of Cheltenham ever becoming a five-day festival, you shudder at the sound of students making their voices heard on third-level racedays and you’re still on a high from the recent spell of top international flat racing, well, maybe this piece won’t be for you.

Agree with him or not, Michael O’Leary has never been afraid to call a situation as he sees it. And when he speaks his mind on matters National Hunt racing, you can be sure those views are coming from a place of passion for the sport he has been champion owner in eight times in Ireland.