The Easter weekend started strongly for this column with Kimberella successful on the All-Weather Championship card at Lingfield. The real focus over the past few days  though was in Ireland and there were certainly some talking points.

We didn’t get it right about Yorkhill after he was surprisingly beaten by Road To Respect in the Ryanair Gold Cup. There’s no doubt Yorkhill is a special horse, but he jumped violently to his left throughout and threw his chance away. While the King George may now be off the agenda, back at a track like Cheltenham next season he can be a real force again.

Poor Barry Geraghty. He’s had some rotten luck lately and now he’s out for a few months with a broken arm after a fall in the Irish Grand National on Minella Foru.

After missing the Cheltenham Festival after fracturing his ribs and puncturing his lung in February, he bounced back with multiple Grade 1 success at Aintree, but now he’s facing surgery again and a spell on the sidelines. Hopefully it’s a speedy recovery.

Congratulations to our 2017 @BoyleSports Irish Grand National winner OUR DUKE! And of course the dreamteam of Robbie Power & @Jessica_Racing pic.twitter.com/4AI4CCl1QU

— FairyhouseRacecourse (@Fairyhouse) April 17, 2017

Compare and contrast Barry’s misfortune with Robbie Power…

All jockeys go through low points and Robbie has overcome a lot of adversity himself, but this extended weekend he enjoyed yet another big race success, to follow up his Cheltenham Gold Cup win a month ago. Our Duke, for trainer Jessie Harrington, won the richest jumps prize in Ireland, the Irish Grand National.

As Barry crunched to the ground, Robbie’s arms were hardly extended as Our Duke romped to victory, much to the delight of this column after suggesting his merits in our preview. Our attention now turns to the Flat and we’ll be back later in the week to see what gems we can find. Happy punting.