IRISH racing again took centre stage in the weekend just gone, for all that the majority of the highlights were picked off by raiders from Britain. This includes the Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh, which went the way of the Hugo Palmer-trained Covert Love.

This year’s Irish Oaks probably represents just a standard level of form for a contest of this nature, but it was at least more truly run than many group races have been recently and the timefigure of 113 was the best of the week and fourth-best of the year in Ireland.