THE National Hunt feature races of the summer are the historic duo of the Galway Plate and Hurdle. This year both were won by horses trained by Willie Mullins, and the Closutton handler is already a fence ahead of Henry de Bromhead in the race for the 2021/22 trainers’ title. That said, we are only at the start of that marathon competition.

Well done to Randox founder Peter Fitzgerald, owner of this year’s Tote Galway Plate winner Royal Rendezvous. Bred at Cleaboy Stud, the nine-year-old son of King’s Theatre (Sadler’s Wells) is from the final crop of that multiple champion National Hunt stallion. What an amazing success story he was for Ballylinch Stud.