DESPITE the continuing Covid-19 restrictions and a lot less cheer around the tracks, Irish racing provided us with plenty to talk about this week. Shure, twas as if nothing has changed from any other year.

An unexpected well-backed winner in Navan, an unexpected winner, by 39 lengths no less, in Listowel. Both winners, predictably, produced the usual media outcry – “disgrace, Irish racing is corrupt, the poor punter is the one who suffers...”