It's not K Club Rory but Irish Champions Festival promises drama and glimpses of greatness

MURPHY'S LAW: Oisin Murphy aboard Asfoora (right) winning the Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes at York last month. Pic: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

A week has passed since the gripping drama of ‘the putt that shook the K Club’ but this weekend the lush green pastures of Kildare will once again be at the epicentre of a globally significant sporting event. The most important flat racing jamboree of the season, the Irish Champions Festival kicks off at Leopardstown on Saturday and concludes at the Curragh Sunday.

If horse racing was golf, this would be the weekend of Irish Open. There are challengers from across the globe, home-grown heroes, battle hardened champions and youthful upstarts with their first promise of future greatness. Packed grandstands twisting and turning on the emotional roller-coaster of top-class sport.