IN the coming weeks Clonmel will stage a couple of National Hunt meetings. They staged one of the first meetings of the new 2018-19 season on May 3rd when the seven races were won by seven different trainers.

This got me thinking about racecourses that provide racing and opportunities for smaller yards and Clonmel surely has a record second to none in that regard. When I checked back on the meetings held in May and June of 2017 I found that the 14 races run were all won by different trainers. No yard doubled up. Surely this was an unusual happening?