This week we had the privilege of addressing the University of Liverpool's MBA in horse racing class on Merseyside. We had a good conversation about many racing issues, particularly the tendency for Irish horses to travel to the UK in large volumes but a much smaller flow of traffic the other ways across the Irish sea.
In many respects this is unusual given the prize money on offer in Ireland. I have previously addressed this here and here. With Punchestown's Festival in full flow this week it is notable that there are far fewer English horses running in Ireland than Irish trained horses as the English equivalent - The Cheltenham Festival. Prize money however might answer this.
Four years ago I addressed this issue, and while prize money in Ireland tends to be better on average than the UK, the same cannot be said when comparing Punchestown to Cheltenham. Below I compare the various races, which match up quite well across both festivals, and the corresponding prize money. Just one, the Champion Bumper, has larger prize money in Ireland than the UK.