Irish racing recently took steps to limit the number of races over jumps that the likes of Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead can contest.

As if to show their versatility, last week at York those two trainers both won big races on the flat and the horses in question could end up running in the A$4.4m Melbourne Cup in November.

Mullins has, of course, had a few cracks already at “the race that stops a nation." He saddled Max Dynamite to finish second and third in 2015 and 2017 and is on record as saying he has “unfinished business” until the Cup returns with him to Carlow.

Last year, Mullins tried again with Vauban who started favourite but faded to finish 14th. It wasn’t the horse’s true running, Mullins said, and he intends to send Vauban back down under this autumn.

Based on the horse’s success in the Group 2 Lonsdale Stakes last Friday, he must be given a second chance.

When Max Dynamite finished third in the Cup behind horses trained by Joseph and Aidan O’Brien, Patrick Mullins quipped: “We travelled 10,000 miles to try and win the race and we got beat by two fellas 50 miles down the road!”

This year it looks like one of the biggest threats to Vauban in Melbourne will be Magical Zoe, trained in Tramore by Henry de Bromhead.

A couple of months later Magical Zoe won her next race, and she proved good enough to run at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival where she finished second

Like Vauban, Magical Zoe has performed at the highest level over hurdles, but she has proved a revelation since being switched to the flat game.

Her stunning success in last Saturday’s £500,000 Ebor Handicap at York earned her a free entry for the Melbourne Cup, and it’s a race de Bromhead has said he has always wanted to have a runner in.

Magical Zoe’s win also brought back memories of Jack de Bromhead, the trainer’s 13-year-old son who died in a pony racing accident almost two years ago.

While Jack was heading to Glenbeigh beach with his grandparents on that fateful day, his dad Henry was at Wexford Racecourse where Magical Zoe was having her first race for the trainer.

She won easily and Henry spoke with the press afterwards as usual before being called away with news that every parent dreads.

A couple of months later Magical Zoe won her next race, and she proved good enough to run at the 2023 Cheltenham Festival where she finished second. The name of the race? The Jack de Bromhead Mares’ Novice Hurdle.

I’m sure the de Bromhead family think of Jack many times every single day, but perhaps even more so when Magical Zoe is running.

Sometimes Jack used to get off school early to see the great Honeysuckle run.

No doubt he was there in spirit at York last Saturday and, should Magical Zoe head to Australia, the mare will have some extra help from above.