Where lies the strength

of an Irish horse? L.
HERE'S THE SECRET
By `G.G.'
WITH Cheltenham and Aintree around the corner, so to speak, from a racing calender view, we can be sure that Irish trainers are busily engaged preparing their team of raiders.
No doubt, the sporting columns of the daily press will soon begin to focus attention on the strength of the forthcoming invasion.
If after the big events, either from sporting lapses or from downright grudge we are treated in the same columns to the recurring moans about the unfairness of the system of handicapping or the oftrepeated cliché "the luck of the Irish", let it be remembered now that the sustained success of the Irish-trained horse over the fences is due neither to luck nor to the favour of the handicap.
What then?
Strength
ANUMBER of causes combine to make the Irish steeplechaser as good as he usually is. Traditionally the animal bred in Ireland is reckoned to be superior than most other breeds. for the simple reason that the stock is good and the young horse has rich pasturage and well-limed water, which builds strong and durable bones.
His preparation is rarely hurried, he progresses through the hunting field to a timely maturity before he is introduced to the race course.
National Hunt racing is carried on the whole year round and added to that the Irish trainer has a proud record to. maintain.
Accordingly the breeding and training of champion horses in Ireland is an enterprise embarked upon with great enthusiasm, not only by those who take it as an industry but right down to a small farmer who from his innate love of horses cherishes a peculiar and fervent desire to breed a horse to win the Grand National.
Attractive
AREALISTIC factor on the part of the Irish Turf Board enters to encour age this prospect. Through the Turf Board the Government has long since sponsored the sport as an industry of national importance.
The sport is popularised and made available to the public at large by keeping the admission at all meetings within the range of the pocket of the man in the street: and the Irish Courses are second to none in the world as regards the up-to-date equipment installed, the accommodation provided and the comfort of the patrons.
Such venues as Curragh, Nass, Leopardstown, Navan, Phoenix Park and Gowran Park have the picturesque lure to attract even those who have little or no interest in racing as such.
Festive
THE renowned annual events as at Galway or Killarney arc festive occasions calculated to rally tourist and native alike. The natural sagacity of the Irish horseman leads him to appreciate the potentiality of his charges long before maturity is reached. It is a well-known fact that rarely are the best steeplechasers sold out of Ireland. The Irish trainer can usually persuade his patrons that it is for the good of the horse to keep him in Ireland. So, all in all, an Irish raid on a big meeting on this side is usually a worthwhile endeavour and one that has proved a profitable investment particularly in the post-war years.
The great success in recent years has been due in no small part to the fact that since the war, Ireland has had some trainers of great ability and genius touch such as Vincent O'Brien and Paddy Prendergast and many others who may perhaps not have had the same brilliant results.
The two mentioned have captured the popular imagination because they have been as equally spectacular on the flat as over the jumps.
Add to all this the Irishman's love of a gamble and his intense patriotism and perhaps one can understand the resounding cheers that welcome home the Irish winner. whether it is at Cheltenham or Liverpool or some other English race field
At home
IT is only fair to say that one other factor has entered into the post-war fillip that Irish racing has had. It is this: For a long way back the R.D.S. sales each year at Ballsbridge have been famous. but for as long they have been dominated by forcien buyers. The war intervened, the overseas buyers were unable to attend, and so the Irish owners had the monopoly. therefore the best bloodstock remained at home. This has built up good stock which the Government has encouraged rod increased.