Yesterday bookmakers were going 5-1 the field for the Cheltenham Gold Cup and that indicates they’re just as confused as us mere punters.

Christmas was different, very different. It only really dawned on me how different as I strolled through Dublin airport on St Stephen’s morning at 7.45 rather than 5.45.

Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott are responsible for nine of the 14 remaining entries in the John Durkan Memorial Chase at Punchestown on Sunday.

Whatever about horses going from one stable to another, for jockeys racing can be one big merry-go-round, and that was never more in evidence than it is right now.

Forget about it. Erase it from your memory entirely. No need to ever mention it again. The monkey is off his back forever. After all the near-misses and the talk of the glaring omission from his CV, Willie Mullins has now won the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup. Al Boum Photo and Paul Townend ensured so with an authoritative display in the feature on the final day of the 2019 Festival.

It’s hard to recall a more open Cheltenham Gold Cup than the one that will unfold before our eyes at 3.30pm this afternoon. Of the 16 set to go to post in the Magners-sponsored Cheltenham Festival highlight, only four can be dismissed with real confidence – it really is that open.

Not 26 years old yet and Joseph O’Brien already enjoys the ultimate badge of acceptance within the racing community. He is known simply as ‘Joseph.’ Of course, as the eldest son of Aidan and Anne-Marie O’Brien, he has had his advantages in the sport, certainly during his riding career, but as a trainer he is very much his own man.

We drew a blank yesterday but most of the horses ran very well, writes Ruby Walsh.

The Sun Racing Stayers’ Hurdle is today’s feature race and Paisley Park can crown a flawless campaign by landing the spoils for trainer Emma Lavelle and jockey Aidan Coleman.

Philip Reynolds spent the first half of his life as Albert Reynolds' young fella and thinks he might just spend the second as Presenting Percy's owner.

From Arkle v Mill House to Kauto Star v Denman to Native River v Might Bite, the Cheltenham Festival has produced some epic duels down the years. It’ll be no different this week and the three showdowns below certainly won’t be for the faint-hearted, says Darren Norris

Owner Philip Reynolds is “counting down the days” to the Cheltenham Festival as he eyes Magners Gold Cup glory with Presenting Percy.

We’re very light on runners this weekend but that’s not unusual for us so close to Cheltenham. Being just seven or eight days out from the Festival, we mightn’t be too busy at the tracks, but we’ll be flat out on the gallops.

A year ago, we gave 10 horses to follow for the National Hunt season and it worked out reasonably well, so it makes sense to have another go.

Colm Greaves predicts what Cheltenham will throw up today

Last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Sizing John, may not be here to defend his crown but trainer Jessica Harrington has an able deputy in the shape of Our Duke, who can land racing’s blue riband on the final day of another very successful Festival for Irish-trained runners.

Pat Kelly has pulled off some jaw-dropping tricks at Cheltenham this last three years, but the man’s ability to slip into the shadows in the winner’s enclosure while thousands toasted his genius has to be right up there.

After the highs of Tuesday, I suffered the lows of racing when falling from Al Boum Photo in yesterday’s RSA Chase.

Day Two. Hmm. This doesn’t look appetising. The heaven-hyped Samcro runs, yes, but he’s one for the big hitters only.

The hype that surrounds Presenting Percy should ensure Monalee goes off a tasty price in today’s RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase and Henry De Bromhead’s charge is fancied to do the business in a race that historically separates the men from the boys.

The clash of Douvan, Altior, and Min in this afternoon’s Betway Champion Chase is even more than we could have hoped for as a feature on day two of the Cheltenham Festival.

Henry De Bromhead’s Monalee can lead his rivals a merry dance in the RSA Insurance Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham this afternoon.

Jessica Harrington has certainly stood the test of time, writes Pat Keane.

Douvan is “not far away” from returning to action after being entered in the Red Mills Chase at Gowran Park on Saturday.

Willie Mullins has issued an upbeat report on Faugheen ahead of his intended appearance in the BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown on Saturday week.

The rude health of the film industry in this country is underlined by the presence of 10 Irish offerings at the prestigious festival, writes Esther McCarthy

Kya deLongchamps celebrates 70 years of the ‘high-frequency dielectric heating apparatus’ or the microwave oven

Five rides, and probably not the strongest-looking book I’ve had, but that’s the nature of racing in the countdown to the Cheltenham.

A prolific reader as a child Fiona Harrison tells Sue Leonard how she wrote stories about Roland Rat who would help Margaret Thatcher run the government.

Aspen Colorado looks the part in the Galway City & Salthill Publicans Rated Novice Hurdle at Galway today.

Successful over a shorter trip at the May meeting, Le Vagabond returned to Killarney to land the featured, €50,000 At The Races Kingdom Gold Cup on the second day of the August Festival last night.

After a mid-season lull trainer Willie McCreery has returned to form with a vengeance, and he recorded a 29-1 double on the opening day of the Killarney’s August festival, including taking the listed Vincent O’Brien Ruby Stakes with the game Erysimum.

If Percy Sledge was alive, do you think he would have changed the words and title to his only number one song to ‘when a man loves a man’?

GERMANY: This could be Germany’s very own Watergate. The German spy agency’s new headquarters was flooded by water after several taps were removed by thieves on its upper floors, police said.

USA: A US health system has unveiled a new hospital gown that aims to put the wraps on a big source of patients’ grumbles — a lack of rear coverage.

The spoiler-free guide to the things appearing on your audiovisual receiving box.

Newsletter bids to get one over the colts when she flies the flag for the fillies in the Jebel Ali Racecourse & Stables Anglesey Stakes at the Curragh today.