Ireland's bumper programme seems in terminal decline - with curiously little being done to stop it

Once a staple of the Irish calendar, bumper races continue to slip to the margins. The division has long since lost its dual role as the principal nursery for young jumping talent and an important shop window, stripped of the interest and intrigue that once commanded the attention of serious gamblers and regular punters alike.

Field sizes have slumped. Only one of the ten bumpers run in Ireland since Christmas matched the average 16 runners per race achieved in the category in 2007 when the decline began to take hold.

That change stemmed from the expansion of the point-to-point season after the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001, supplying an alternative model for the producers of young horses who could now show off their wares from October through to May, aiming to sell at a profit and replenish stock at the store horse sales.