From French-breds to Irish pointers, where the winners came from at Cheltenham

League of nations

Last year's domination of the Cheltenham Festival by the Irish was at an unprecedented level with 20 of the 28 winners bred in Ireland and an astonishing 23 trained there. Despite much wailing and gnashing of teeth in some quarters, 2021 was always likely to be an anomaly rather than a portent of doom for the jumps breeding industry in other jurisdictions.

So it proved this year with the margin of Irish dominance much reduced from 12 months' ago and very similarly in line with the percentage of Cheltenham runners bred in Ireland.

Irish-breds accounted for 15 of the 28 winners over the four days, or 53.6 per cent of the total. As Irish-bred horses made up 52.6 per cent of all runners during the week, it is clear to see that success levels correlate almost perfectly with sheer volume of numbers.