THE Irish went 28 years without winning the Sky Bet Ebor after 1973, after Christy Roche had won the race on the Paddy Prendergast-trained Bonne Noel.

Then Michael Kinane and Aidan O’Brien won it with Mediterranean in 2001, but the Irish roll didn’t start then. Eight more years flowed under the bridge before Willie Mullins won it with Sesenta in 2009, when Gary Carroll was claiming 5lb.