Two's a duopoly and three's a crowd on Irish jumping scene driven by big forces

The first Classics have signalled that the Flat season is seeking the spotlight, but it still has to escape the giant shadow cast by the final few weeks of the jumps season, which went kicking and screaming to the very end. I've never seen a Punchestown festival shot through with such drama, yet every absorbing vignette was subordinate to the recurring theme of the title race between Messrs Mullins and Elliott.

For all the cheroot-chewing, mano a mano stuff, however, just how desirable was this shootout, and how acceptable that an entire season should hang on the rivalry between two among 93 licensed jumps trainers in Ireland, two men whose carpet bombing of even the most ordinary handicap made Aidan O'Brien's domination of the Classic scene look positively lax? It may have been a caricature of the season as a whole, but it was unarguably a recognisable one.

Well, there could be no suggestions the concentration of power led to any lack of competition at Ireland's showcase festival, with seemingly every available horse from both yards pressed into service. Similarly at Cheltenham, it was fascinating to see two fine trainers mopping up races like so much rich gravy, but raucous claims of Irish domination began to sound rather hollow when the final sums were done and Elliott and Mullins had provided 15-17ths of the combined Irish haul.