Ambition, purpose and visionary leadership: Irish racing could have done with what Coolmore and Paddy Power possess

I've been thinking a lot about 1988 this past week. It started when I was writing a tribute to Irish bookmaking legend David Power. It was in that year that Power teamed up with competing betting shop owners John Corcoran and Stewart Kenny to bring the Paddy Power brand into being.

The history of the company's remarkable evolution has been well recited. Perhaps less widely understood is how the gambling giant, now part of the Flutter family, was founded towards the end of a decade in which the Irish economy was in turmoil: a period of inflation and high unemployment, decreased agricultural and industrial productivity, and a crisis of national morale as emigration soared. Inflationary pressure impacted the racing economy and the Racing Board began to run into debt for the first time since its creation in 1945.

When we reflect on how the Irish racing landscape looked in 1988, there is a temptation to focus on the low point of the Cheltenham Festival when 35 Irish-trained runners produced just a single winner, Galmoy in the Stayers' Hurdle, a prelude to the following year's whitewash.