As the dust settles on a dramatic and entertaining Easter Festival at Fairyhouse the stage is set for yet another tremendous climax to the campaign at Punchestown later this month where Gordon Elliott and Willie Mullins will fight out the final throes of yet another absorbing battle for trainer’s championship honours.

For some time the Irish Grand National looked a pivotal race in the trainers title and the finish perhaps best exemplified the season as a whole as Elliott’s General Principle scrambled home by a head from the Mullins-trained Isleofhopeandreams.

After a finale where Elliott and Mullins supplied four of the first five home, the former was able to maintain the significant prize-money lead that he has built up over the last two months.

However, it would be unwise in the extreme to start writing off Mullins who overhauled a not dissimilar deficit at Punchestown last year. Furthermore two Grade 1 wins on Sunday followed by a Grade 2 hat-trick on Monday was an ample illustration of the fire power at the champion trainer’s disposal. Expect both trainers to field a stunning array of talent at Punchestown which is sure to bring the season to a memorable crescendo.

Although the National was run on especially testing ground and only eight horses completed the course, the finish of the race was quite remarkable. It is hard to believe that under such arduous conditions the first five home in the race would be covered by just over a length.

O’Brien's Derby hope

Meanwhile on the flat Aidan O’Brien stands on the cusp of becoming the first European trainer to land the Kentucky Derby following Mendelssohn’s stunning 18 lengths triumph in the UAE Derby. Last year’s Breeders Cup hero produced a tremendous effort on his first outing on dirt to look every inch a leading contender for the most iconic prize in American racing.

The Derby will present the son of Scat Daddy with an altogether different test to what he faced in Dubai but his credentials for the race are beyond reproach. Aidan O’Brien’s best result from five previous runners in the Kentucky Derby was a fifth with Master Of Hounds in 2011 but he has never had a better equipped challenger than Mendelssohn.

After all this time Bold Arrangement’s second to Ferdinand in 1986 is the best result achieved by a European runner in the Kentucky Derby but that could be set to change next month.

Much has been made of the overwhelming domination of Irish National Hunt racing by a select few but over the course of the last year various measures have been introduced to help smaller operations and the Irish European Breeders Fund are to be commended for their latest initiative.

Embrace EBF Series

From September the Irish EBF Auction Hurdle Series will get underway, taking in 14 maiden and novice hurdles, each worth a minimum of €20,000, and will conclude with a €75,000 final at Punchestown in April.

The series is open to horses sired by an EBF-registered stallion and bought at a recognised store sale as three and four-year-olds for €45,000 or less. It is imperative that this innovative series iswidely embraced.

However all of last week’s events pale into insignificance against the news of Pat Smullen’s illness. The nine-times champion jockey is one of the very finest jockeys produced by this country and the messages of support and goodwill which followed the news of his illness are testament to his global standing. The thoughts of the entire racing world are with him and his family.