Racing Review 2006: Brian O'Connorcasts a reflective eye over what has been another hugely successful campaign

Anyone in doubt about how sexy racing is in Ireland right now only has to look at the pictures taken earlier this month at Horse Racing Ireland's awards for 2006.

The Cheltenham Gold Cup winner War Of Attrition's confirmation as Horse Of The Year resulted in the Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary, who owns the star chaser, receiving the award from the Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism, John O'Donoghue.

The image itself is hardly enough to get anyone's boat afloat, but considering the bile that has flowed this year between the Government and Ryanair over Aer Lingus, the steady, if slightly steely grins on show from Messrs O'Donoghue and O'Leary speak volumes.

On Ireland's sporting train, the most successful and glamorous carriage continues to be racing and even those at loggerheads are clambering to get aboard. In first class, after all, it doesn't pay to poop in the aisles.

And there is little doubt that the prizemoney floating around Ireland for much of the last decade has resulted in the sort of Class A results that would have seemed impossible at the start of the 1990s.

Back then, it was par for the course for Irish throats to open just once or twice at the all-consuming Cheltenham festival. In 2006, though, a new record of 10 winners was set and even the nerd brigade who insist that comparisons with other years can't be made - since it was a four-day festival - can't deny a percentage strike rate that blows every previous season out of the water.

But it wasn't just the winners. Only a third place by Mister McGoldrick in the Queen Mother Champion Chase prevented a complete clean sweep of all three championship races. The first three in the Gold Cup were Irish. Brave Inca led home three other Irish horses in the Champion Hurdle and remove Mister McGoldrick and the first five in the Champion came from here.

By the end, it was even possible to hear a few beerily presumptuous chants of "Easy-Easy-Easy" around the famous old course and while the general feel-good factor provoked an unfortunate amount of flag waving, the rate of success more than continued to Liverpool where Numbersixvalverde became the fifth Irish trained horse in the last eight years to land the world's most famous steeplechase.

It was a fairytale victory for the Curragh trainer Martin Brassil and the 20-year-old jockey Niall "Slippers" Madden who might have been having his first ride over the famous Grand National fences, but whose sure touch produced a superb victory. The fact that only Clan Royal - owned and ridden by Irishmen mind you - prevented another Irish-trained clean sweep, had by this stage become something of an afterthought.

On the home front, it was no surprise to see one of the legendary Carberry family come out on top in the Irish Grand National, but rather than the former champion jockey, Paul, and the current champion amateur, Nina, it was 25-year-old Philip that won out on Point Barrow.

The lesser known Carberry also carved out a lucrative sideline in France as he partnered Princesse D'Amjou to success in the French Gold Cup and then followed up in another Grade One in November on the same mare.

But it was other news from France towards the end of the year that produced far less welcome headlines for one of flat racing's biggest names, Kieren Fallon. Already banned from riding in Britain due to conspiracy charges, and unable to get a licence in America, Fallon's career looked to have completely caved in when a positive test for cocaine resulted in a six-month worldwide ban.

While in Australia for the Melbourne Cup, the Co Clare born jockey was routinely described by the local press as being the most controversial jockey in the world and, for many, a drugs ban that keeps him out of action until early June was expected to be the final nail in the coffin of his association with the all-powerful Coolmore empire.

The fact that John Magnier currently appears willing to stand by his man is testament to the regard Fallon is held in at Ballydoyle, but maybe also have something to do with the lack of a credible alternative.

Up to that fateful week in July when Fallon learned of his ban in Britain and provided the positive test, it had been business as usual for the Aidan O'Brien team as George Washington looked brilliant in the 2,000 Guineas and Alexandrova picked off both the English and Irish Oaks. Throw in Dylan Thomas in the Irish Derby and Aussie Rules in the French Guineas and the stallion supply to Coolmore looked to be turning over very nicely indeed.

However good the top Ballydoyle juvenile Holy Roman Emperor looked though, it was O'Brien's former mentor, Jim Bolger, who provided the top two classic prospects for next year.

The home-bred Teofilo earned some fancy quotes for a possible Triple Crown in 2007 after five wins that culminated in a narrow defeat of Holy Roman Emperor in the Dewhurst. On the same day, Finsceal Beo added the Rockfel to a deeply impressive win in the Prix Marcel Boussac.

A changing of the guard theme was also in evidence in the jockey's room with Declan McDonogh landing his first championship with 89 winners.

But in a year that also saw the first ever positive drugs test for a jockey in Ireland from the now retired Warren O'Connor, the real tragedy was the death of young Dary Cullen from Kildare who sustained fatal injuries in a fall at a Wexford point-to-point in April.

It was a dreadfully sad note for a sport and industry that otherwise is currently enjoying a golden period in its long and colourful history. The Curragh is a more historic location than most, but even that is now enjoying the first nips and tucks of a 100 million face lift that will see it become the biggest racecourse facility in the country by 2009. Galway too will have the new Killanin stand in operation by next year's festival.

Inevitably, such expenditure, especially for the Curragh, has come under fire, especially from those who argue that an already bulging prize-fund should be further added to. However, when it comes to throwing money away, providing a flagship facility at the country's most famous racecourse for years to come doesn't even come close to the top prize.

After all, it was only in February that Coolmore outbid their great rivals Godolphin at the Calder Sales in Florida for a two-year-old that managed to run a furlong quite quickly.

The colt ultimately went to the Irish outfit for a world record $16 million. Since then he has run precisely no times.

Maybe it's the name that has turned him off - The Green Monkey!