A GOOD friend of mine in Ireland occasionally likes to suggest interesting analytical tasks, purportedly in the hope that they will confirm his views on the particular subject raised – but also perhaps fearful that, if I have too much time on my hands, I may belatedly work out how much breeding National Hunt horses is costing me.

It was my Irish pal who suggested the first two topics that I investigate in this article. The first is whether French-breds outperform Irish and British-breds in Irish maiden four-year-old point-to-points, as they clearly do in major jumps races under rules.