The stats clearly reveal why Irish handicappers look well treated when they travel over to Britain

Handicaps, by definition, are supposed to be tight, competitive races. But there are clear signs in Britain this simply isn’t the case when it comes to jump racing.

I was prompted to explore this issue by some interesting ideas put forward in these pages following JP McManus’s guest column last month, in which the legendary owner suggested races outside the Cheltenham Festival would become more competitive if a lower limit on the number of runners was imposed on handicaps at the big meeting.

In response, my colleague Lewis Porteous wrote that handicaps through the season would be more competitive if connections could be sure that winners of such races would not get a prohibitive hike from the handicapper, proposing a trial whereby winners were raised by a set amount for each win depending on the grade.