Ireland v Britain: it's almost a score draw as the curtain comes down on Irish Group 1 programme

Ireland's 13-race Group 1 programme culminated with six events at the recent Irish Champions Festival at the Curragh and Leopardstown.

Collectively, these races provide a snapshot of the state of Ireland's Flat racing scene. All too often in recent years, the focus has been not so much on their individual merits, but instead viewing them through a distracting lens of a perceived failure of the premier contests to command widespread public interest. That has involved debate about the Curragh and its ongoing attempts to reap the benefits of a €81 million redevelopment programme, and questions about the effectiveness of the Irish Champions concept in promoting the sport.

But keeping the focus to results on the track, the season's 13 Group 1 winners reveal a tightly fought battle between Britain, where six of the winners were trained, and Ireland, which just had the edge with seven.