Former champion jockey Richard Johnson has expressed his annoyance at the suggestion that Irish trainers are better than their British colleagues.
For several years now, the Irish have dominated in the sport of horse racing, and for many English fans of the sport, there seems to be little optimism that the run of Irish supremacy will end anytime soon.
For context, the Irish-trained horses won 18 of the 28 races at last season's Cheltenham Festival, including victories in the Champion Chase, Stayers' Hurdle, and Gold Cup. There have also been other years when Ireland's top jockeys and trainers have swept all before them.
Since Great Britain's Prestbury Cup win in 2015 at the Cheltenham Festival, the Irish have won every one of those titles, bar the tie in 2014. Ireland is expected to do the same in 2024.
Former English jockey Johnson, who recorded 3,819 wins during his career and won two Gold Cups, believes the disparity in both countries comes from the "quality of the animals" rather than the overall talent on show.
“It annoys me when people suggest English trainers can’t train or the Irish trainers are much better," Johnson said to Genting Casino.
"That is simply not true. It is all about the quality of the animals. We have loads of trainers in Britain who, if they get the ammunition, are more than capable.
"That side of things really upsets me when you hear things being bandied around, making out we are not as good as the Irish. We are.
“When a yard is doing really well, obviously, it encourages owners to keep spending money and keep buying good horses there."
Despite this, Johnson still believes the pendulum could swing back in the British direction, but there is still work to do for that to happen. The former Gold Cup winner has also given praise to Irish trainer Willie Mullins for his ability to keep producing winning race horses every year.
ESHER, ENGLAND - APRIL 23: Richard Johnson champion jockey walks into the parade ring as fellow jockeys form a guard of honourat Sandown Park on April 23, 2016 in Esher, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)"It is the Irish at the moment who have the upper hand, but I don’t see any reason it won’t swing back the other way at some point, but there’s no doubt we have work to do.
“Willie Mullins is a level above everyone else. He seems to be able to have horses come through. He is obviously a brilliant trainer, and there’s no one better at his job. But when a horse becomes available and Willie makes it clear he’d like it, then it will go to him. He has owners waiting to buy horses. As a trainer, you can only buy horses if you have owners with the money."
A topical issue in the world of horse racing involves the fact that the BHA is considering implementing a cap on the number of horses a single trainer can enter into Class 1 and 2 handicaps.
This proposed change would likely have the biggest impact on the biggest trainers, including Irish handlers targeting the big festival handicaps in the UK.
Johnson has admitted he can see both sides of the argument for and against, but at the end of the day, he believes that people will moan for the sake of moaning no matter what the rules in place are.
“I won’t say it is healthy because you do want to see really open, competitive racing," Johnson said.
"At the same time, if there is a 14-runner handicap and Gordon and Willie have two-thirds of the runners, people will get upset.
"But at least they are running horses. If they were only going to run one or two, you might have a five-runner race, and people would moan even more.
“In Ireland, because there is slightly less racing, you don’t have as many options as over here to go somewhere else."
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