WITH all the pieces pretty much in place for the Cheltenham 2022 annual Anglo-Irish clash, the previews are building up and the fighting talk is cranking up. British trainers are anxious to wipe out that 23-5 ‘defeat’ of last year.

On RacingTV at the weekend, former trainer Henrietta Knight didn’t do much for their plight when she argued that Irish trainers were just better than their UK counterparts.

It was a bit of an insult to the likes of Nicholls, Henderson, Williams, Twiston Davies, et cetera, who have been at the top ofthe tree for many years.

Why would fortune change and the Irish suddenly be better? The change in the make-up of National Hunt ownership has a great deal to do with it.

Irish trainers have the raw material, the best and most expensive horses. British racing also lost some big owners, the likes of Sir Robert Ogden, and perhaps the trainers were not sourcing the better French product.

Success follows success. If Mullins and Elliott were producing the goods for Rich Ricci and Gigginstown, it was quite likely that someone like Cheveley Park would be attracted here too.

And the swing to Ireland has been gradual. Most of us remember the empty Galmoy days. We were the home of steeplechasing but could offer little against the British defence then.

More recently, in a Gold Cup field of 18 up against Kauto Star in 2007, we could only offer Cane Brake (20/1) and an 11-year-old Beef Or Salmon (16/1). Could the trainers of 15 years ago not train Gold Cup chasers?

We only had five winners at the Festival 10 years ago in 2010. And when it was 26 races in 2015, it was honours even at 13-13.

Funding

It all reminded me of former Westmeath GAA player John Connellan’s long plea to the GAA last summer on how an imbalance in funding had made a monster of Dublin.

There were also the continuous cries for Dublin to be split in two to give other counties a chance. As with success in most other sports, money talks. It brings better facilities, nurtures talent. But the pendulum eventually swings.

Roll on 10 months, past that All-Ireland semi-final eclipse, four league defeats and Dublin’s decade of dominance has come to an end, with the retirement of most of the squad from the six in a row from 2015 to 2020.

This year the British handicapper has been more lenient to their runners, and all in all, there seems more strength in depth and quality to the English challenge.

The raw material is the deciding factor and Henderson was quick to admit at the beginning of the season that he had a very strong team of novice hurdlers. It promises to be a more interesting Festival if you are taking a view on the Prestbury Cup!

ATTENTION was diverted to a race well away from the Cheltenham Festival early this week, to a novice chase at Catterick. Indeed there are grounds for saying that it might have been the most expensive novice chase run anywhere.

In the seven horse field, fifth and last was Trevelyn’s Corn (cost £400,000), pulled up Downtown Getaway (£350,000) and also pulled up was Lecale’s Article (£320,000). That’s a fair old depreciation in a few years.

That compares with the last three Cheltenham Champion Bumper winners Sir Gerhard (£400,000), Ferny Hollow (£300,000) and Envoi Allen (£400,000). You definitely need a bit of luck with your pounds if you are playing at those high stakes.

Victory for a horse like Redemption Day (who initially cost £40,000) this year would be quite a bargain.

THE Paul Kimmage ‘investigation’ from the Sunday Independant into racing’s ‘dirty secrets’ produced another four-pager last weekend but failed to pin down anything concrete to move towards finding proof of wrongdoing. We had a further concentration on Steve Mahon’s plight.

Are we any further on in having proof of malpractice than a year ago, for all the headlines, for all the suggestions of no faith in the authorities and calls for investigations?

The unfortunate outcome, is again that only the headlines are read which bring forth reactionary statements from some politicians, who obviously only read the headline and little of the background.

‘The truth is there’, ran the headline, with Steve Mahon posing behind bars. But you can’t help thinking if a widely respected journalist calls another member of your profession a “gobshite” on Twitter, you are not on the right path.