Jump racing has become an arms race - Tom Segal believes the longer-term outlook is bleak for British trainers

In terms of the Anglo-Irish competition, last month's Cheltenham Festival was pretty similar to the previous one. It certainly wasn't the Irish whitewash many had predicted, with Britain winning ten races and the home-trained novice chasers more than holding their own by landing Grade 1 successes in the Turners and Brown Advisory.

Furthermore, the best hurdler in training by a country mile is trained by Nicky Henderson, so on the face of things it's not all doom and gloom for the Brits.

However, the underlying trends aren't anywhere near as rosy when you take a look at the novice hurdles. Yes, Stay Away Fay landed the Albert Bartlett, but the first eight home in the Supreme were Irish-trained, as were the first four in the Ballymore and ten of the first 11 in the Champion Bumper. In the juvenile races it was even worse, with Irish trainers saddling the first ten in the Triumph and six of the first seven in the Boodles.