So sad that a horse like Mr Vango can't run in the Grand National - but muzzling Willie Mullins isn't the solution

It has been instructive to follow the debate about whether to recalibrate the make-up of the Grand National field. The tried-and-trusted formula of allowing the highest-rated horses to face the starter, as they will on Saturday, is under scrutiny. Romance is in short supply, unlike the preponderance of horses trained in Ireland – and by Willie Mullins in particular.

This has spawned some spurious suggestions, not least that there should be a limit on the number of horses each trainer can saddle. Even if that limit was set at four, as has been mooted, there would be perhaps a small handful of extra places each year – and the chances are that other horses trained in Ireland would be the main beneficiaries anyway.

Ireland’s dominance of the jumping scene should have no bearing on how the Grand National line-up might change for the better. In racing, periods of dominance tend to promote thinly veiled efforts to curb that dominance in the name of variety or diversity.