Flipping heck! Thank goodness the Cheltenham Festival only happens once a year. There’s only so much chaos and controversy my liver can take. But oh boy, did the 230,000 racegoers who turned up have some good craic. Although Willie Mullins swept the board in the big races, nine UK-based trainers got on the score sheet, winning 13 races, just two short of the Irish. A big improvement on recent years.

If Thursday night’s post-racing horse sale at Cheltenham is anything to go by, however, the dominance of Irish trainers in the big races is set to continue. The star of the sale this year was a stallion called Goliath Du Berlais, who stands at Normandy-based stud Haras D’Etreham. Three of his sons sold for £400,000 and the fourth made £530,000. They have all won a single point-to-point in Ireland, beating other unknown quantities. Mind-boggling.

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Three of these recruits are now predictably heading back to top yards in Ireland; Palinca will be trained by Henry de Bromhead, Monster Truck by Gordon Elliott and Monzon Sport by Willie Mullins. All should be horses to look out for in the future, although it wouldn’t surprise me if Mullins gives his recruit a year hacking around to allow further development. Mullins is a man of huge patience. The fact these potential stars are all French-bred must blow a chill wind through top Irish stud Coolmore. It........

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