IT is a testament to the vision and enterprise of those associated with the Irish Champions Weekend that it has become established so firmly in such a short time since its inception in 2014.

Despite a crowded international schedule, events at Leopardstown and then the Curragh last weekend were never far from centre stage.

That competition for attention was in marked contrast to the weekend before, which had been drab beyond belief, in Europe at least.

It begs the question as to whether Irish Champions Weekend might work even better, by having the spotlight entirely to itself, if it took place seven days earlier. That is where some of its major events used to be positioned, after all.

Be that as it may, the fourth ICW served up many notable performances, though only a few that qualify for that description in time terms.

Best of the lot was the nine-length win by Order Of St George in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger at the Curragh, an effort which returned a 123 timefigure from Timeform, the second-best of the week and the best by a horse at further than 12 furlongs in the entire year.

Order Of St George achieved it by being ridden more forwardly than has sometimes been the case, with a 38.0s final three furlongs being close to par while some of his rivals wilted.

He should not be far away in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, as was the case last year, if he goes back to Chantilly but it would be fascinating to see what he could do in the Melbourne Cup ridden something like this.

The result of the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown the previous day was rather more difficult to make sense of. As was the time, though my best attempt at validating the race distances throughout the card on Google Earth (both this year and last) suggests they could do with being double-checked officially.

Timeform has a timefigure of 114 for the winner Decorated Knight, and a sectional of 35.2s for the last three furlongs which suggests the pace was steady rather than overly-strong as some suggested.

That being, Decorated Knight and runner-up Poet’s Word (113) did well in coming from several lengths back, though there is also a chance they were on the fastest part of the track late on.

This was not a vintage running, though Decorated Knight had, of course, managed to split Highland Reel and Ulysses at Royal Ascot only a few months earlier.

Eminent never fully settled in the lead, not given his head so much this time, and Churchill looked rather flat when push came to shove though was short of room. Cliffs Of Moher arguably suffered most of all in the crowding.

Still, that is racing, as they say.