It's a far cry from Cheltenham as Royal Ascot's top contests expose sorry state of Irish Flat racing

What do Givemethebeatboys, Porta Fortuna, Valiant Force and Vauban have in common? Hmmm. Tricky one, isn't it? Two of them begin with the letter V but, other than that, not a lot. Two colts, one gelding and a filly. Two of them are sprinters, I suppose, but one's a stayer and the other a miler, all hailing from separate stables. They couldn't be any more different, really. Stumped?

Well, as it happens, they are the only four Irish horses to contest Group 1 races at Royal Ascot this year who weren't trained by Aidan O'Brien.

The Irish representation in the eight top-level races at the royal meeting was pretty miserable when you took away the Ballydoyle battalions and, even if you included them, Irish-trained horses still made up only 13 per cent of the fields. Without them, it would have been a pathetic four per cent. That's a scary statistic.