A big British challenge is needed if Dublin Racing Festival is to justify the hype

Is the Dublin Racing Festival all it’s cracked up to be? That was the simple question I posed when appearing on the Racing Post Live show on Sunday, but even the mere suggestion that the meeting is a little bit overrated appeared to generate some faux outrage on social media.

Is it really incorrect to question the status of a meeting that is increasingly being billed by many as the best two days of racing in the calendar? I don’t think so and here’s the reason why.

Last year at Cheltenham the four championship races were won by Honeysuckle, Energumene, Flooring Porter and A Plus Tard. How many of them ran last weekend?