THE victory of Michael Mulvany’s On The Go Again in the Irish Lincolnshire on the opening day of the season offered a portent of what was to follow in the coming months as this was a year in which several of the smaller yards made a big impact.

On The Go Again, whose trainer went on to enjoy the best season of his career, provided a great curtain raiser for the season but there were some huge stories to follow before too long. Indeed just two months later the Ken Condon-trained and Shane Foley-ridden Romanised produced a stunning effort to upstage U S Navy Flag in the Irish 2000 Guineas.