Michael Kinane and John Murtagh will go into the last day of the season locked on 76 winners each.
A short-priced double for Murtagh in the opening two races at Thurles yesterday briefly put him in the lead but Kinane levelled it up again by winning the mile and a half handicap on Yukon.
Kinane is now an 8 to 11 favourite to win his 12th championship at Leopardstown on Sunday where there are eight races to be run, while the Co Meath-born Murtagh is an even money chance to win his fourth title.
Before then the two jockeys could be in action in France on Saturday where Aidan O'Brien has five entries left in the final Group One of the French season, the Criterium de St-Cloud.
The Racing Post Trophy runner up Powerscourt heads the quintet in a contest that O'Brien saddled the first three home in last year.
The Ballydoyle trainer's other entries are Alberto Giacometti, Cougar, Delacroix and The Great Gatsby.
Murtagh started the day one behind his great rival but was soon in front after landing both divisions of the two-year-old median auction maiden aboard Zimbabwe and Hard Shoulder.
The two leading riders fought out the finish in the opener, with Zimbabwe heading Nopekan a furlong out to score by a workmanlike length and a half.
"He stays well, and should make a nice handicapper over 12 furlongs plus next season," said successful trainer John Oxx's assistant Jimmy O'Neill.
Murtagh was aboard 1 to 2 favourite Hard Shoulder half-an-hour later, and Noel Meade's charge was prominent throughout before drawing clear in the final furlong to beat Sarobar by four and a half lengths.
"I've always thought a lot of him, but he kept running into some of the best two-year-olds around. He's a big, leggy gelding, and should improve next year," said Meade.
However, Kinane, who completed the final leg of his long trip back from Melbourne by helicopter to the Co Tipperary track, was back on level terms when giving Yukon a typically strong ride to land the mile and a half handicap.
The NH section of the card provided a series of exciting finishes, notably the opportunity handicap hurdle in which the Mark Grant-ridden Annshoon beat Goodonyou-Polly in the final stride.
