Before Sunday, David Egan had never ridden a winner in Ireland.

That’s David Egan, a son of Sandra Hughes and jockey John Egan, a grandson of Dessie Hughes, a nephew of multiple champion jockey and now trainer Richard Hughes.

That’s David Egan, who was brought up on the Curragh plains, just opposite the five-furlong marker in Osborne Lodge.

That’s David Egan, who is hugely established in Newmarket now, a classic winning jockey himself, a former champion apprentice and hugely prolific with his tallies of winners each season since he started.

But if you’re going to go ahead and have your first winner in your home country, it might as well be a Group 1 on one of the biggest days on the calendar at your home track. That is how it went for Egan when he oversaw a comprehensive victory for Eldar Eldarov for his boss Roger Varian in the Irish St Leger on Sunday.

Egan left to go to Britain and stay with his father John when he was just 15 and has been with Varian since that. The pair have progressed both their careers significantly since then, and this horse has been one of their shining lights. He was completing a unique St Leger double, having scored the British equivalent at Doncaster last season.

Sunday’s win will go down as a win for Britain, but this one very much belonged to the Curragh.

“Anytime I get to come back home to the Curragh, which isn’t that often unfortunately, I always come the night before so I can spend a bit of time with family,” Egan divulged after the race. “It was great this morning, because I could have lie in!

“This horse is very special, he means so much to me. He gave me my first classic winner and to do it for the boss and the owners KHK Racing, who have been very good to me, it’s fantastic.”

Elsewhere at the Irish Champions Festival, which hosted just under 20,000 people last weekend, Aidan O’Brien did the usual – new milestones and big race success.

He somehow managed to get Auguste Rodin back to his best, again, in the Irish Champion Stakes and when Henry Longfellow strode clear in the National Stakes, it was win number 4000 for the master of Ballydoyle.