There's no way out of the malaise for British trainers - Ireland have depth similar to Real Madrid and Manchester City

In any capitalist society, those with the most money tend to rise to the top. We see it in all sports and Manchester City, for example, could probably field a second 11 that would finish in the top half of the Premier League. Not only can City, or Real Madrid, buy the best footballers but they also have the advantage of being able to rest some of their top players, replace them with ones who are nearly as good and still compete in every competition they enter.

That is sort of how I read the racing from Cheltenham at the weekend because the Irish had six winners and Willie Mullins only supplied one runner – and that was a tailed-off last. For the most part they were second division Irish horses coming over and landing loads of prize-money, taking advantage of the fact that British trainers, for the most part, didn't want to come out and play ball.

I often hear it said that the home trainers should be more proactive and should have fielded a stronger team at Cheltenham, but consider this: if you only have a few star players can you really afford to take a risk on the ground at this early stage of the season with a chance, however small, of losing your star striker for the big games to come?