THE British 2015/2016 jumps season was the gift that kept on giving almost to the very end.

The season finale at Sandown in late-April has occasionally seemed a bit like an after-thought. But some top-notch racing, the popular crowning of Richard Johnson as champion jockey at last, and an absorbing head-to-head for the trainers’ championship between Willie Mullins and Paul Nicholls, all ensured that it ended with a bang not a whimper this time.