FIRST things first. When it comes to handicapping horses, this is a science that I have little knowledge about.

Every year there is a brouhaha about the weights for the Randox Grand National, though I understand that this unique race requires a similarly unique approach to allotting weights. However, the perennial chestnut of the Cheltenham Festival weights is another matter altogether.

Surely the object of handicapping is to interpret the form of horses, and to give them a racing weight that, theoretically, gives all the runners an equal chance of winning. There are enough lines of form to give the Irish and British handicappers the opportunity to assess all horses, and you would imagine that this would generally result in both countries coming up with an agreed figure.

The dominance of Irish-trained horses in recent times is down to one fact alone. The best horses in training under National Hunt rules are based in Ireland, many in British ownership.

If that is the case, it surely is wrong that Irish challengers are generally weighted higher in England than they are at home, which is arguably an attempt to lessen their chances of winning.

Furthermore, British trainers now find that their runners, who have been treated leniently, may not now get a run in many of the handicaps. Thankfully there were a couple of sane voices in the aftermath of the handicap reveal, Alan King pointing out that Ireland has the best horses, while Gordon Elliott put forward the notion of a uniform weight rise for overseas challengers.

Better still would be an agreed European handicap, though I have to say that I cannot see this being a runner. On the face of it, it would seem that the British handicappers don’t take their Irish equivalent’s work at face value, though I know that the late Noel O’Brien and his successor, Andrew Shaw, are respected by their opposite numbers.

Some of the comments made by trainers at the reveal were so wide of the mark. Assuming that winning a listed race in France should earn lots of respect doesn’t follow suit, given that some horses there can gain their sole success in such a race. I don’t wish to single France out for less than worthy blacktype, but the reality is that some of their winners in this grade are, at best, average runners.

Will the dominance of Irish-trained winners in the handicaps continue? Perhaps it will. Does that mean the British handicappers should skew the weights to favour British-trained runners? Certainly not.