Ireland’s love affair with horse racing

With the Cheltenham Festival close, the quest for serious punting money intensifies. I had one potential contributor identified at Kempton on Saturday. With trainer Dan Skelton on red-hot form, and his jockey brother Harry currently winning on 22 per cent of his rides, I reckoned that their candidate for the Sky Bet Dovecote Novices’ Hurdle, the clearly useful Calico, a decent horse on the Flat in Germany, was the business at a tasty 10-3.

Three hurdles out, Harry had Calico travelling strongly behind the two leaders and I was not only counting my money but also starting to frame a few ante-post doubles for the Festival. When he eased into second at the second last, and the pair pulled clear of the field, it seemed only a matter of time before he swooped on the leader Cape Gentleman. But when Harry gave Calico the get-go, and rode him hard to challenge after the last, Cape Gentleman wasn’t ready to yield.