THE Irish/British thing was centre stage again, as it usually is at Cheltenham. It was centre-stage even in the late 1980s and early 1990s, although it wasn’t much of a competition then, unless you think that Manchester City v Accrington Stanley is competition, with Manchester City playing at home.

Back then, you never really thought that we would ever get to a point at which there would be as many Irish-trained winners as British-trained winners at the Cheltenham Festival. Even in 2006, when Irish-trained horses won 10 of the 24 races, it was surely a blip, and that hypothesis was proved when there were just five in 2007.