It's no wonder the punters love Walsh, who always gives them a good run for their money, and he topped his Punchestown Festival achievement by taking the 2005/2006 NH Jockeys' Championship for the fourth time from his great rival Barry Geraghty.

The season was a memorable one for Irish-trained horses, with Brave Inca leading home a 1-2-3-4 in the Kappa Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, War Of Attrition landing a 1-2-3 for the Irish in the Gold Cup, and Numbersixvalverde giving us our fifth win in the Aintree Grand National since 1999.

The Mouse Morris-trained War Of Attrition, with Conor O'Dwyer in the saddle, showed no sign of any illeffects from Cheltenham when following up at Punchestown in the Guinness Gold Cup, and John Murphy's Queen Mother Champion Chase hero Newmill emulated his achievement with an equally impressive win in the Kerrygold Champion Chase.

Noel Meade was champion trainer yet again, both in terms of winners and the prize money he won, while Nina Carberry, sister of Meade's stable jockey Paul, was crowned champion amateur for the first time. Nina, who is taking a year out from her studies to become a physiotherapist, has no plans to turn professional, and showed her dash with an historic win on the J.P.

McManus-owned Good Step in Thursday's Blue Square Chase La Touche Cup.

Good Step is trained by Enda Bolger, a master of the cross-country races at Punchestown, who was recording his ninth consecutive victory in the race.

Yesterday at the Kildare venue, Robert Power missed out on a double after hurting his hip while partnering Sir Overbury to a neck success for trainer Danny O'Connell in the Evening Racemeeting In May Novice Hurdle.

Power felt very sore afterwards, and gave up the mount on Michael Halford's Game Ball Ali, who went on to take the Panoramic Restaurant Handicap Hurdle by three and a half lengths.