Stewards beginning to apply interference rules more sensibly

As if this time of the year wasn’t disorienting enough with the Flat and jumps worlds colliding, the sight of Pallasator dancing up at Punchestown for Gordon Elliott and Norman Williamson might have been enough to leave some racing fans reaching for the smelling salts.

Incongruent it may have been, but there was something reassuring about seeing Williamson ease Elliott's new acquisition home with that unmistakably still poise of his. The whole occasion lifted the spirits on an inclement afternoon, inspired as it was in support of the family of the greatly missed John Shortt.

The reunion of Aidan O’Brien and the inimitable Mick Kinane was another nostalgic gem at Punchestown, and on Saturday O'Brien's quest to topple Bobby Frankel’s record of top-level Flat wins moves on to Caulfield and then Ascot.