Mr O’Brien can be more than pleased with his day’s work

The handicapper, Noel O’Brien, was entitled to allow himself a little smile, following the running of the valuable boylesports.com Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown last Saturday.

Popular wisdom had it that he had greatly erred in his assessment of Tony Martin’s Quick Jack and that allowing him to run off a mark of 119, which translated to 9-12, was likely to blow up in his face.

Indeed, one pundit on television over the weekend indicated that if the race were run in Britain, Quick Jack would be competing off a mark 17lbs higher.