Ireland's Gold Cup stranglehold is almost unparalleled - making Skelton go retro

Should Minella Indo, Galvin, Conflated, Tornado Flyer, Al Boum Photo, A Plus Tard or AN Other (IRE) triumph in the Gold Cup on March 18, it would constitute a significant landmark.

An Irish-trained winner of jump racing's pinnacle event at the Cheltenham Festival would take the running tally for the cross-channel delegation to seven wins in nine editions. That would equal the previous most prosperous yield the travelling contingent has ever enjoyed in such a condensed period.

When Davy Lad won for Dessie Hughes and Mick O'Toole in 1977, it was a seventh win from ten Gold Cups. Such a lucrative return has only been bettered once, during the same golden era for Irish steeplechasing.