Legendary Irish jockey Charlie Swan has claimed that England will one day reign supreme over Ireland once again in the horseracing world.
Ireland have punched above their weight in every sport they have competed in since for decades, but in horseracing the Irish have are the current flag bearers in the sport.
This year will see the return of Cheltenham's Prestbury Cup. The Prestbury Cup is the annual trophy for the winning most country, between Britain and Ireland at The Festival.
Between 2014 and 2022, Ireland have won the Prestbury Cup six times, with Great Britain winning twice.
In this time there have been 250 Irish trained winning horses, 101 British trained winners and one French trained winner.
Ireland are noticeably short odds to keep their trophy this year.
Swan, who won three Champion Hurdles on famous racehorse Istabraq feels that Ireland's dominance will end someday as the sport is cyclical.
"I remember my first winner in Cheltenham and there had been no Irish winner the previous year. The year I rode my first winner, I was the only Irish winner. I think it will come round in cycles," said Swan to Cheltenham Betting and Boylesports
Cheltenham Festival News: The Craft Irish Whiskey Co. to sponsor awards for leading owner, trainer and jockey at the Festival plus the Prestbury Cup 🏆
Read more 👇https://t.co/id4OZMkTjc#TheCraftIrishWhiskeyCo pic.twitter.com/7ygtgzt7D8— CheltenhamRacecourse (@CheltenhamRaces) March 10, 2023
"At that time, the English were buying all our horses. Now it’s sort of changed and we have the big owners, and we are buying if there’s a good horse there.
"We’ve just been a bit luckier in recent years, you know. Willie (Mullins), Henry (de Bromhead) and Gordon (Elliott) and Joseph (O’Brien), they’ve bought some good horses. That’s just the way it’s going at the moment and in years to come I am sure England will be back on top again."
Swan also went on to say that the lack of races in England was a major factor in England's lack of control in the sport.
"It’s in a great place in Ireland but in England, they obviously have some problems."
"I think the biggest one is prize money. There are too many races, too many race meetings. It’s very hard when you have three or four meetings a day and you just don’t have enough horses to cater for that."
"If you took a third of the meetings away, you’d have more prize money and you’d have more competitive racing. You can still have one or two meetings a day and people are still going to bet on those two meetings."
The 2023 Cheltenham Festival will run from Tuesday, March 14 to Friday, March 17. The meeting is run over four days with seven races on each day, so 28 in total. The first race of each day will be due off at 1:30pm with the last run at 5:30pm.
