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Outstanding weekend highlights prove that change is good - even if it wasn't quite a revolution

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Ireland editor
Fact To File (right): jumps to the lead at the last
Durkan delight - moving the John Durkan Memorial Chase a fortnight earlier has seen the race flourish over the past couple of yearsCredit: Patrick McCann

When the Racing Post revealed changes to Ireland's jumps season on the eve of Christmas last year, Jason Morris, then Horse Racing Ireland's director of racing, described them as "evolution rather than revolution". 

It was a nice line that did enough to diffuse the ire of those who were thriving in the existing climate but at the same time placate the persistent laments of a voluminous rumpus of malcontents. The Grade 1 Racing Post Novice Chase at Leopardstown was to be axed, while the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle was downgraded to a Grade 2.

On the back of a couple of decades of exponential growth in the Irish Grade 1 pool, it constituted pretty ruthless surgery.

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Published on inRichard Forristal

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