YET again the domestic National Hunt scene was dominated by one narrative above all else as the two leviathans that are Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott did battle for another trainer’s championship and once more the first-named pulled the title out of the fire with a Punchestown Festival tour de force.

From early in the season Elliott led his great rival and it seemed as though the stage was set for him to prevail when General Principle defeated the Mullins-trained Isleofhopendreams by a head in a titanic finale to the Irish Grand National. However, it was not to be as Mullins produced his string in amazing form for Punchestown and he won 18 of the 37 races on offer over the five days – a dozen of those being six figure pots.