We’re three weeks and around four hours removed from the flag dropping to announce the commencement of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Gordon Elliott, who will hope to win it with Abacadabras, is in top form.

Paul Nolan is “99% sure” that Latest Exhibition will run in the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle next month rather than the Ballymore.

You don’t have to be any sort of genius to now know Notebook is a very good horse.

There may be no Cork team on the main ladies football programme at Croke Park on Sunday, but the county will be well represented by an Aghada ‘Gaelic for mothers and others’ selection.

Walls Construction, the company which built the Central Bank's headquarters in Dublin's docklands, has said it has a strong order book for this year and good visibility into 2020.

This stunning Cobh home has hen run, and pigs, on the property sale menu, writes Tommy Barker

Funny sort of week. Great week for Willie and a brilliant week for Paul Townend, but it was a funny week for me.

In the latter stages of his career in the saddle he may be but the joy of riding a winner at the Cheltenham Festival commands a broader-than-ever smile from Ruby Walsh, who didn’t have to wait long to make that familiar walk back to the winner’s enclosure.

For years the hardest place in the world to tip a winner was Cheltenham. For years the hardest place in the world to back a winner was Cheltenham.

Ireland boss Joe Schmidt has thrown down the gauntlet to his Six Nations champions to emulate the heroes of 1979 by winning a Test series in Australia when they face the Wallabies for a third and decisive time on Saturday.

Yesterday was a great day, a very emotional day, a day that I owe to a lot of people.

Large swathes of the country are going to be left without any GP if supports are not given to doctors, according to the Irish College of General Practitioners.

BALLYMORE Properties has not gone away.

Valseur Lido can make a successful debut over fences in the Gain Supporting Laois Beginners Chase at Punchestown this afternoon.

Gardaí in Westmeath are appealing for witnesses following a shooting outside a pub in Ballymore, near Athlone.

Sq m 284 (3,000 sq ft)

With more food tours and trails in Ireland than ever, there’s never been a better excuse to eat your way through a short break, says Pól Ó Conghaile.

The Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) continue to pick up landmark properties in Dublin, while in London Ballymore hunts €2.4bn finance to construct 3,000 houses.

Differing contests in so many ways yet equally compelling.

Mayo show jumper Alex Duffy shared first place in the six-bar class at Mechelen, Belgium, at the weekend.

Pre-tax losses at the international arm of Sean Mulryan’s Ballymore Developments increased by 51% last year to €222.1m.

There is a lot of irony in these post-Halloween days. We have managed to arrange a Monster Web Festival, a truly magnificent technological event worthy of celebration as Dublin authorities launch a No-Water festival.

Olympic medallist Cian O’Connor joked yesterday that “unfortunately” he would not gain any advantage from last year’s Olympic showjumping fences at this week’s Millstreet International Horse Show.

Brian O’Driscoll has missed just 28 of the 143 Tests Ireland have played since making his debut against Australia at Ballymore in June 1999 and only 11 other men have worn the No 13 jersey in that time.

There will be a changing of the top guard at the annual general meeting of Macra na Feirme in Charleville next Saturday.

The quips are quick, the wit, razor sharp.

James Kavanagh could be on the verge of a dramatic switch from Kildare to Galway.

The Brown Bear, Two Mile House, Co Kildare; Tel: 045-883561; thebrownbear.ie

THE artisan milk and handmade butter movement is really gathering momentum.

The Ballymore Group has won council approval for a plan to turn a former DHL depot and adjoining land into almost 2,000 houses at a site beside Battersea Power Station in London.

The National Asset Management Agency has lent around €360 million in working capital to developers to finish projects in Britain.

An Offaly man has died in a mining accident in Africa, it has emerged.

WESTMEATH captain Denis Glennon has lashed out at his county board for not providing manager Pat Flanagan with enough financial backing last year.

Pat Flanagan will continue as Westmeath senior football manager into the 2012 season, after securing the support of the Westmeath Football Board.

Tommy Barker says the owners of Fuschia Cottage have extended the property and captured harbour views

Stan James Supreme Novices’ Hurdle 2m 1/2f

A host of provincial club finals, the Champion 15 awards and the Roscommon County Convention are among the GAA events that have fallen victim of the wintry weather this weekend.