JOHNNY Burke had one simple goal this season; ride 50 winners. He’d never ridden 50 winners before. He had 48 one season in Ireland, which is big for Ireland, but after riding 45 and 48 winners in two of his previous four seasons in Britain, 50 was the bullseye.

Early last month the Cork native had to sit down and review his goal. If you’re doing that, it’s either very good or very bad, and in Burke’s case it was most definitely the former.