The Hennessy Gold Cup meeting at Leopardstown is traditionally the last big Grade 1 meeting in Ireland leading up to the Cheltenham Festival.

It is the last opportunity for reputations and credentials to be tested on the domestic front before the very best that Ireland has to offer sails across the Irish Sea in pursuit of international glory and recognition on the most prestigious of stages.

However, while the National Hunt season is rightly or wrongly very much focused on the Cheltenham Festival, last Sunday’s meeting at Leopardstown has earned its own pedestal. This was a tremendous card, one with four exceptionally deep Grade 1 races that would not look out of place at any of the spring festivals, and all four of them proved to be very informative indeed.

NO STANDOUT JUVENILE

The Spring Juvenile Hurdle kicked off proceedings and, as much as anything, it only hardened the view that right now Ireland does not have a standout rival for Peace And Co in the Triumph Hurdle. The winner Petite Parisienne produced a gritty and likeable performance to break her maiden in style, but the proximity of the well-exposed Prussian Eagle just four and a half lengths off the winner immediately raises questions about the merit of the form.

While some will instinctively presume that he was flattered, he may have been ridden quietly in the first half of the race but he was right on the leaders' tails in between the final two flights and kept galloping to the line, which makes it difficult for me to agree that he was flattered.

Peace And Co is the sort that I would love to oppose in the Triumph Hurdle, but credible opposition to him looks thin on the ground at the moment. Of those that we have seen in Ireland thus far, perhaps the Willie Mullins-trained Dicosimo is of the most interest, with him having easily seen off Prussian Eagle by seven and a half lengths on his Irish debut at Gowran Park last month.

TOO FREE

The Deloitte Novice Hurdle was a very deep contest and the vibes strongly suggested it was going to be a coming-out party for Willie Mullins’ very highly-regarded maiden winner Alvisio Ville. However, that five-year-old raced quite freely, a trait he had shown on his Irish debut at Christmas, and was a spent force before the final flight. Again, it was a stable mate of the beaten favourite that emerged on top, with Nichols Canyon maintaining his unbeaten-when-completing record in great style.

While Nichols Canyon is rated no less than 111 on the flat, he has never been one of the talking horses in Mullins’ novice hurdle ranks, but he is earning respect on the track. A horse that had tended to race more freely and jump lower than ideal up to this point, the switch to front-running tactics really suited him and the turn of pace he showed in between the final two flights was quite taking.

The Supreme Novices’ Hurdle look the right target for him to my eye, but with his owner also having Shaneshill and Black Hercules to consider, caution is best advised with ante-post bets.

Of the remainder, the Dermot Weld-trained Windsor Park emerged with great credit in second having made his share of errors. He is learning on the job and with the size of his engine not being in dispute, he could yet be a factor at the Cheltenham Festival, perhaps in the Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle.

PATIENT CARBERRY

Racing fans have been spoiled with an outstanding novice chase division this season and the Flogas Novice Chase was perhaps the most exciting contest yet in the division. The Willie Mullins-trained Valseur Lido had easily seen off the Noel Meade-trained Apache Stronghold in the Drinmore back in November, but little went right for Meade’s charge on that occasion and under a much more typically patient Paul Carberry ride on Sunday, the seven-year-old reversed the form with a brave and classy performance. There doesn’t appeal as being much between the two and both are likely to play major roles in the JLT Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival if that is where they run.

The one sad note on what was a generally joyous day was the fatal fall taken by the Liz Doyle-trained Le Vent D’Antan at the final fence having jumped brilliantly throughout.

SECOND-SEASON CHASERS

The market for the featured Hennessy Gold Cup reflected the staying chase division as a whole, with it being wide open and full of unknowns. It was encouraging to see two second-season chasers in the shape of the John Kiely-trained Carlingford Lough and the Ted Walsh-trained Foxrock come out on top over their more experienced rivals and both sets of connections will have cause for encouragement that their horses can improve again.

Carlingford Lough, having just his second start of the campaign, did very well to overcome a mistake at the penultimate fence to grind out the victory. He had a very long and testing campaign as a novice last season and that he has come back and shown further improvement is a testament to both his constitution and the ability of his trainer. Foxrock clearly hasn’t finished improving yet and with his sometimes careful jumping seeming to becoming less of an issue, he rates as arguably an even more promising a prospect than the winner. He is not entered in the Gold Cup, but could well be supplemented for it.

Of the others, there was great encouragement to taken from the run of the Jim Culloty-trained Lord Windermere. It was surprising to see him sent to the lead before the second-last fence and he was entitled to weaken on the run-in in the circumstances, but he ran a very sweet race and has better prospects of retaining his Gold Cup crown than many are giving him credit for.

Whatever about the horses, the races, the horsemen and women, the tracks, the prize money and anything else you want to add into the mix that makes Irish horse racing great, for me, what was really showcased at Leopardstown is something that in my opinion no racing nation anywhere in the world can match and that no amount of money can ever buy, the passion of the racing public.

McCOY RECEPTION

The atmosphere of genuine affection and enthusiasm that was radiating around the enclosures for AP McCoy on Sunday really was something to behold. The reception he received after the Hennessy was unbelievable and, as had been the case with the reception that Hurricane Fly received at the same track earlier this season, one could safely presume that the vast majority of people who packed around the parade ring were there to express their appreciation out of passion and support rather than any financial gain they may have made on the back of the results. Irish soccer fans are often described as the best in the world, but I challenge anyone to find me more passionate and knowledgeable day-to-day fans of horse racing than the Irish.

McCoy played his part too. Despite the storm of attention and media interest he had gone through since announcing his retirement 24 hours earlier, he could not have been more accommodating to those that wanted to wish him well or get an autograph/photograph. Indeed, such was the outpouring of goodwill for him, it took him more than 45 minutes to make the 50-yard journey from the presentation stand in the parade ring back into the weighing room.

All told, it was a wonderful day of racing, one that really showcased Irish racing at its best. The focus now very much turns to the Cheltenham Festival where we’ll find out how the Irish horses measure up against the British and, on the evidence of last Sunday and what came in the months preceding it, I think the Irish have every reason to be hopeful of another blockbusting performance at Prestbury Park in just under a month's time.

Comments are welcome directly to Kevin Blake on Twitter (@kevinblake2011). The best ones may be published in The Irish Field on Saturday.