IRELAND might be the envy of other racing nations in several areas - like our production line of quality equine talent and industry-leading horsemen and women - but nobody would argue that there isn’t a bundle of scope for us to improve.

Having spent the week leading up to the Lexus Melbourne Cup getting acquainted with as many facets of the Australian racing model as possible, a host of factors stuck out where it feels as though Irish racing is lagging behind our counterparts down under.