The New One flying the flag again with British stars hard to find

The hope with a race like the International Hurdle is that it will shine a light on the Champion Hurdle division. Despite being staged in a grey, drizzly gloom, the latest running did indeed shine a light. What it illuminated is, for Team GB, somewhat disheartening.

The New One is a wonderful horse, and in winning the Stan James-backed prize for the third time he produced one of the finest performances of a fantastic career. Inevitably, however, the fact he won so well further served to highlight the weakness of Britain's elite two-mile hurdlers.

For some time now Ireland has held the upper hand. Of the last 13 Champion Hurdles, nine have been won by Irish-trained horses. Yet that supremacy has been achieved not simply because Ireland has been blessed with some marvellous talent. It has been reinforced by the home team lacking both quality and quantity.

The New One enters Cheltenham's winner's enclosure after a third International successCredit: John Grossick

In the 2015 Champion the Brits managed to field just three runners, two of which started at 25-1 and 100-1. Only The New One had a serious chance of success, and he tried hard, just as he did the following year, and just as he had the previous year. The first attempt was the one that got away, as Nigel Twiston-Davies reminded us in Cheltenham's squelchy winner's enclosure, while also looking forward to a fourth tilt at the contest that has so far been his little lad's nemesis.

That, though, was not the aim at the start of the season, or indeed at the start of last week. And quite possibly as the tapes went up here. The New One is only Champion Hurdle-bound because the weather denied him a crack at novice chasing.