“Leslie contacted me and also Lar Sutton of Irish Sport TV through Facebook, having viewed last year’s final online,” said Orla Roche. “He came over in September and bought five horses, having seen their videos, and is back now with some Canadian clients.

“They tried a good few horses today and will be back here tomorrow to try some more. I had hoped to get Leslie as a guest judge for the league but, when I asked him, he felt there might be a conflict of interest as he is buying horses and said he couldn’t.”