Ireland manager Robert Splaine yesterday had one piece of advice for Bertram Allen going into next week’s World Cup final: Play your usual game, writes John Tynan.

Greg Broderick hopes to raise the temperature on Sunday in Thermal, California, where there will be a cool $1m (€940,000) on offer in the AIG Grand Prix.

It was on Monday morning that Cameron Hanley found out he was to lose the ride on all but one of his top horses, taking to Facebook to say ‘it breaks my heart’.