National Hunt racing in Ireland at an all time high
Those of us who have been around for a while can well remember the bad days, the days when we travelled to Cheltenham with horses who, largely, couldn't run to warm themselves.
Many of them were just leftovers, ones who hadn't been bought by English owners. You went to Cheltenham and watched a succession of ex-Irish horses screaming up the final hill and being acclaimed as the new flying machines. Irish in origin, but on the side of the traditional enemy.
The massive upsurge in the Irish economy has changed everything and the Brits, faced with the challenge of now finding their own horses, are on the backfoot.
Personally, I still have some difficulty getting my head around it. I can recall covering Cheltenham and sometimes struggling to find an Irish angle. Now, thankfully, it's a question of what to leave out.
My mind wanders back to '87 and '88 when Galmoy, in the Stayers' Hurdle, was the only Irish winner in those two years.
But the last two Festivals have been quite astonishing, nine victories last year and now ten. Paul Barber, who is Paul Nicholls' landlord and a frequent visitor to this country, recently went on record as saying that the time is coming when Ireland will have more success at Cheltenham than Britain.
I don't really know whether he's right or not, but you have to accept it as a definite possibility.
Anyway, an amazing statistic from last week. Twenty four races were run and 20 of them were won by Irish jockeys. Only Robert Thornton (two), Adam Tinkler and Richard Johnson got a look in from the other side.
Twelve months ago we won the three major prizes for the first time in the one year, with Hardy Eustace (Champion Hurdle), Kicking King (Gold Cup) and Moscow Flyer (Champion 'Chase).
On this occasion, Hardy Eustace had an interrupted preparation, Kicking King was on the injured list and Moscow Flyer was simply past his best.
Yet, quite astonishingly, we did it again. Brave Inca, God bless him, stepped up to the plate in the Champion Hurdle, we found a new superstar in War Of Attrition in the Gold Cup and Newmill showed what an under-rated horse he was going to Cheltenham by taking the Champion Chase.
It emphasises the sheer depth of the Irish challenge that we could find three new horses to win the three biggest prizes.
Add in that we had the first four in the Champion Hurdle, first three in the Gold Cup, a 1-2 in the Champion Chase, the first five in the Foxhunters, the first four in the Cross-Country Handicap Chase, the first three in the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle and another 1-2 in the Coral Cup. Such statistics almost beggar belief.
There was so much to enjoy about this Cheltenham. Top of the list, I think, has to be War Of Attrition's win in the Gold Cup.
So many of us got so much enjoyment out of actually being there to see what it meant to Mouse Morris.
Mouse is one of the gentlemen of the game, a real character, who could never be accused of exactly being politically correct.
He was like a child who had just discovered a chocolate factory and it was delightful to watch.
This won't go to his head and you can be damned sure he won't be seen wearing sunglasses when it's raining, nor is he likely to be caught dead in a pin-striped suit either.
No, he will continue to have a haircut once a year and there's a better chance of winning the lottery than of him giving up the fags.
He did a smashing job with War Of Attrition and all he needs now is the luck to be able to get the horse back there next year.
Conor O'Dwyer, of course, doesn't bother with the minor races at Cheltenham and prefers to just concentrate on Gold Cups and Champion Hurdles!
He's some man and certainly has perfected the art of winning Gold Cups by going down the outside.
Brave Inca did precisely what was expected in the Champion Hurdle, but in my humble opinion hated the ground and it was only his courage, and McCoy, which pulled him through.
I thought Macs Joy emerged from the contest with great credit and he went way up in my estimation.
He never surrendered on the run in and the fact is a year younger than Brave Inca would indicate that, at some stage, he may well prove capable of going by him. Food for thought at least.
I love Nicanor. When I interviewed Noel Meade for this paper, prior to Cheltenham, he put him up as a future Gold Cup prospect.
That smooth defeat of Denman, in the SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle, showed that Meade is far from dreaming.
Wouldn't you just love to see Nicanor and the hugely impressive Black Jack Ketchum crossing swords? Now that would be a proper race.
Many still don't like the concept of a four-day Festival, but you cannot argue with the attendance figures. Around 55,000 for the first three days and 67,000 for the Friday speak for themselves.
I know it's popular to criticise the Thursday, and it still leaves plenty to be desired, but I didn't think it was that bad this year.
The downside of Cheltenham was the fact nine horses were killed. You just know fatalities are inevitable when the ground rides fast at the Festival. Speed kills. But it was mostly on the slow side of good, so why were so many killed? It does demand the fullest investigation.
