For the first time in a long time, the Cheltenham Festival’s famed Anglo-Irish rivalry promises to be relevant when National Hunt racing’s biggest week of the year kicks off on March 10th. A home team used to playing second fiddle is throwing its shoulders back and fancying its chances. A lot of history and resentment used to swirl around any Irish success in the backyard of the old colonial power. It isn’t so long since the Prestbury Cup concept – racing’s version of golf’s Ryder Cup – was dismissed on both sides as an irrelevance. Cheltenham needs a resurgent home team.

Source: The Irish Times February 27, 2026 15:04 UTC