Irish Cheltenham Festival entries outnumber British ones for first time at 52 per cent

With the entries for the final three races now in it is official – the Irish challenge outweighs the British.

Fifty-two per cent (655) of the 1,261 horses entered at the first stage for each of the 28 races at this year's meeting are trained in Ireland, the first time the Irish have had a higher percentage than the home team.

Irish dominance has been a growing theme in recent seasons, with Ireland winning 18 races across last year's four-day meeting – in 2021 the result was an even more emphatic 23 winners against Britain's five. The phenomenon is not restricted to Cheltenham, with Irish-trained horses accounting for 61 of the 94 entries in this year's Grand National.