'It’s hard to beat Willie anywhere, but it’s even harder at Punchestown' - title leader Elliott aware of looming Mullins threat

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So, he was right all along. Even on the first Monday in February, when still €447,940 in front after celebrating five winners at the Dublin Racing Festival, Gordon Elliott told us all categorically that he had “no chance whatsoever” of winning his first Irish trainers’ championship. It turns out he was spot on.

As we approach the end-of-season shindig at Punchestown, Elliott still has the yellow jersey but his lead has been whittled down to €144,010 and you can back him right this second at 8-1 with Paddy Power to hold on to it for five more days. Don’t do it. There’s more chance of a statue of Liam Rosenior being erected outside Stamford Bridge.

That’s not to scoff at what Elliott has done this season. It’s been an unexpectedly brilliant one in which seven Irish Grade 1s have been tucked away, as well as three in Britain and an American Grand National, but it has always felt as though he was hanging on to one of those rotating bars you would see at a carnival. Losing his grip was inevitable, but he’s held on for a lot longer than any of us thought he would.