Dublin Racing Festival verdict: a cracking two days - but even more can be done

The third edition of the Dublin Racing Festival was the best yet, a helter-skelter two days of high-class action, providing more than its fair share of drama and an astonishing array of storylines, most of them positive – Jack Kennedy's broken leg a glaring exception.

Concerns about ground conditions came to the fore on Saturday with a number of significant defections. Fortunately, a repeat of last year's debacle, which saw Sunday's card hit by a rash of withdrawals, was averted. At the same time, any serious form student will have noticed that the fixture laid bare a fundamental anomaly. The official going description was 'yielding' on both days, yet the course rode appreciably slower on the second afternoon.

The 15-race fixture underlined many of the current strengths of Irish jump racing and has bedded down successfully into the calendar.