Ruby Walsh: We really shouldn’t be aspiring to be like the UK

Catering for everyone dilutes your product, so how we strategise to move forward is essential because the UK has gotten it all wrong

Galopin Des Champs bounced out and dragged his rivals around Punchestown's glorious chase course to make the race what it was. Picture: ©INPHO/Peter Mooney

Change. Let's start with the beauty. Punchestown wanted it for many years, and in the second year that HRI permitted it, we all got to see a magical John Durkan Chase.

You hoped in Punchestown last Sunday as they left the parade ring that the cream of the Irish staying-chase division would deliver on the track and treat us to a classic. I wanted to walk out of my local racecourse last Sunday evening, itching to get home to watch it again, and I did.