When the dust had settled on Cheltenham’s week of Championship racing, nobody could quite still believe just how dominant the irish invading party had been.
Of 28 races contested in the heart of middle England, 19 had been taken away back on Aer Lingus and Ryanair flights and onwards to Carlow, to Kildare, to Meath.
When Dawn Run won the Gold Cup back in 1986, there were Irish celebrations and hopes that it would lead to a surge in Irish racing fortunes to match that of 20 years before and the great Arkle.
Yet for the next three years there was only one winning horse strained in Ireland, Galmoy, who landed a race in in ’87 and ’88. In 1989 there was not a single winner and in those dark days it may have felt as though there would never be another.
Still the irish came though and if the numbers weren’t quite at today’s levels the stories were.
Destriero for Carpet magnate Noel Furlong, Danoli for the small time trainer Tom Foley and owner Danny O’Neill who dreamed big.
Then there was Istabraq, Florida Pearl and Moscow Flyer. They secured a place in racing history but still through the 1990’s the average number of Irish winners was less than four.
The following decade saw the number rise to over 6 but even that could not have signalled the success of more recent vintage. In 2011 there were 13, a record beaten in 2013 and matched in 2016 when 14 prizes went back across the Irish Sea.
But now the record is 19. That’s more than there were races in 1986 but the expansion of the number of races by 10 over the three decades is only a small part of the story of Irish success.
Trainers Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliot saddled six each and will bring their battle for the Championship in Ireland all the way to a Punchestown Festival that promises to be spectacular.
Jessica Harrington beat them both to the Blue Riband on Friday though when winning the Timico Gold Cup with Sizing John, her first runner in the race at he tender age of 69+1.
Irish cheers reverberated around the Cotswolds for long after the final race on St Patrick’s Day. Its a long way from the blank of 1989 and a measure of the success that Horse racing Ireland has fostered in the breeding and retention of Champions to race from Irish stables and to truly stand astride the global sport.
