FOR all that there had been plenty of chatter that British National Hunt racing would see a revival at this year’s Cheltenham Festival, surely very few of us would have anticipated the Prestbury Cup going down to the final race of the entire meeting like it did last week.

Well, credit where it’s due, The Irish Field’s Anne Marie Duff tipped the correct scoreline of 15-13 to Ireland at juicy odds of 10/1 on The Racing Edge podcast back on February 16th. She was very much in the minority of those making predictions on this side of the water, even if many of us did fear there would be one particular area of strength for the home side this spring.