It's a numbers game - but being allowed to run 11 horses, including newcomers, in the Triumph really is a joke

After Willie Mullins turned a €521,414 deficit into a €809,524 victory during the final five days of the 2017-18 trainers' championship at Punchestown, denying Gordon Elliott what remains an elusive first title, the runner-up was asked to put his finger on the biggest difference between the teams at Closutton and Cullentra. 

"You need the older horses and the numbers in the big races," Elliott replied. "You need the hardened Graded horses to win a trainers' championship. You see what Willie is doing, finishing 1-2-3 in those big races. That's what I need to do."

It was a numbers game back then and it remains the same numbers game now. Nothing has changed. Well, the Closutton colossus has got bigger, better and more dominant in the interim, but he wouldn't be able to do any of that without the numbers.