We have two great champion jockeys - what a shame most people don't know them

Ireland's racing community can be rightly proud of a pair of reigning champion jockeys whose skill and professionalism mark them out as two of the country's leading sportspeople.

Paul Townend has been champion jump jockey for the past three seasons and four times in all. Flat champion Colin Keane won his first title in 2017, twice played second fiddle to Donnacha O'Brien before regaining the championship last year, and is now on course to eclipse Joseph O'Brien's seasonal record of 126 winners set in the 2013 season.

Two of Ireland's sporting elite certainly. But also, I suspect, two who are less liable to be recognised in the street by their fellow citizens than star performers from other sporting disciplines. I doubt if even their greatest fans would argue that they are household names in the same way as many top gaelic footballers, rugby and soccer players, golfers and boxers.