Ruby Walsh senses the start of a resurgence in the UK to the recent Irish domination of National Hunt racing.
Irish trainers won 23 of the 28 races at the Cheltenham Festival in 2021, while the score was 18-10 in favour of the visitors last year.
Handlers from this side of the Irish Sea have also been responsible for the last four Grand National winners at Aintree - Tiger Roll (2018 and 2019), Minella Times (2021) and Noble Yeats (2022).
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A number of people within racing were surprised last week when it was revealed that just two English-trained horses had been entered at the Dublin Racing Festival next month.
The Leopardstown meeting has gone from strength to strength since its inception in 2018, with bumper prize money up for grabs, and has seen a large number of runners go on to win races at the Cheltenham Festival.
However, Walsh was not surprised to see so few entries from across the water, but the legendary jockey believes UK-based trainers could compete much more with their Irish counterparts in the coming years.
Walsh said on Paddy Power's ‘From The Horse’s Mouth’ podcast: "You look at the Grade 1 entries for that – I couldn’t believe people giving out there’s only two English entries – two more than there was last year! I kind of looked at it and was thinking ‘really, what do you expect’ but I do see a shift in the novice hurdlers in the UK – I think obviously you had Constitution Hill last year, but there seems to be more of them this year.
"You have to have bumper horses to have novice hurdlers that make open hurdlers or novice chasers and it is quite cyclical and it seems to me to be the start of a resurgence in the UK and give it three, four years, but when that pendulum balances again you’ll see more English horses at the Dublin Racing Festival.
"But at the moment the power still lies on this side of the Irish Sea so why would the English come? Wait until it balances but it’s not that long ago I won the Irish Gold Cup on Neptune Collonges, that’s not in the back of my days so it will come back."
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