Simon Munir on the secrets of the recent Double Green success

The six-year-old is now trained in Ireland by Tom Gibney, and was the latest in a series of high-profile winners for the team. But this one was homebred and meant a huge amount to Munir.

He told sportnglife.com: “The horse wove together many strands to win the Irish Grand National. He is out of our Une Artiste, who won the Fred Winter at Cheltenham for us during her racing career.

“Having started off in France winning the Prix Isopani, Intense Raffles promised much for team Double Green. However, he seemed to lose his way and was subsequently sent to Tom. He has completely transformed the horse and has rekindled the talent he always promised as a juvenile."

The owners have horses trained in France and England but in recent years more of their string have been sent to various trainers in Ireland in increasing numbers.

Explaining the overall strategy, Munir said: “The first point to note is that neither Isaac nor I actually live in England, so there is no inherent advantage to having our horses trained there. The second point is we do not involve trainers in the buying of our horses.

“We have devised our own Double Green Matrix with Racing Manager Anthony Bromley - a system that not only measures and helps allocate horses to trainers but is a useful tool when buying horses. It’s no coincidence that Isaac and I are both Fund Managers, so allocating assets really is our day job.

"When it comes to team Double Green, diversification in sourcing our horses is the name of the game. We have created an academy where our store horses are trained to run in point-to-points and bumpers by Stuart Crawford in Northern Ireland. The latest horse to come from this source was Cheltenham Champion Bumper winner Jasmin de Vaux, who was a 28,000 euro purchase from the Land Rover Sale.”

The key for the Double Green team is securing value for money, for which Willie Mullins’ 100th Cheltenham Festival winner is a prime advertisement. Their last English-trained Cheltenham winner was Peace and Co back in 2015. Since then Mullins has since delivered them victories for Footpad, Concertista, El Fabiolo, Impaire et Passe and Jasmine de Vaux.

Munir added: "Intellectually, it is more satisfying to buy a horse for a reasonable price rather than simply buying the most expensive horse. We breed in France too where we have a team of 10 to 12 broodmares. We also buy some French form horses along with Irish pointers, so we really do have all bases covered.”

It's a formula that works, and so in recent seasons has been the decision to send a stronger team to Mullins. So why put so much focus on the Closutton yard, and what about suggestions that measures should be put in place to try and ease the trainer's top-level domination of the sport?

"Willie, apart from being a master trainer, simply has the best management team behind him and is also the best delegator in racing. He has three very experienced individuals who could be trainers in their own right, namely David Casey, Ruby Walsh and his son, Patrick.

“In reality, they are not spending any more than anyone else per horse, though numerically Harold Kirk may buy more horses but that’s market forces - you can’t and shouldn’t regulate that," Munir added.

"Some ridiculous things have been written about Irish trained horses running in England. People shouldn’t be looking to the regulator to level the playing field – when Arsenal had their ‘Invincibles’ team and were winning everything, you wouldn’t ask the FA to make them play with nine men, would you?”

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