Last week was the start of the new race times – there were a good few of them in the UK - and I think, for people who were viewing racing on the whole, it was a better experience.

Talking horses with Darren Norris.

From Willie Mullins’ point of view, Allaho in the Beginners’ Chase and Jon Snow and The Big Getaway in the maiden hurdles are the key horses this weekend.

Will it all end in tears, just like Samcro?

Connections of Envoi Allen are not ruling out a tilt at the Unibet Champion Hurdle following his latest triumph at Naas.

If ever there was a day that might have convinced Michael O’Leary to reconsider his decision to wind down his racing operation, today was surely it.

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.

Dual Champion Hurdle runner-up Melon opened his account over fences with a battling display at Leopardstown.

There’s a brilliant day’s racing to look forward to, with quality racing spread across the 10 meetings which are scheduled to take place in Ireland and Britain.

Last Sunday was a blustery day, a status orange weather warning was in place for a lot of west and southern counties but in racing the only storm was over the TV coverage Irish racing got last week.

Davy Russell hopes to return to the saddle this weekend after falling ill at Punchestown on Sunday.

I guess, given his phenomenal success in such a short space of time, there are few days which aren’t good ones at Joseph O’Brien’s Owning Hill yard, but yesterday’s visit to the stables was the morning after a treble on a superb Sunday at Fairyhouse, and all was extremely well with the trainer and his team.

Photographer Pat Healy is recovering at home after suffering only minor injuries in a nasty incident at Navan on Sunday.

Samcro made a foot-perfect start to his career over fences on a Down Royal card dominated by his trainer Gordon Elliott.

The National Hunt season is getting into full swing and already a number of horses, four to be precise, have been identified that may well help to keep us cruising along.

A tough and consistent mare, Surrounding made her breakthrough at Group 3 level when landing the Brownstown Stakes for Michael Halford, Ronan Whelan, and the Newell family at Fairyhouse yesterday.

Danny O’Reilly plays in Cork this weekend with The Coronas. He tells Richard Fitzpatrick about some of his major musical touchstones and other influences

I don’t understand the betting for today’s feature race, the Punchestown Gold Cup.

I have some great rides to look forward on the opening day of the Punchestown festival, it’s a brilliant week and I can’t wait for it to get underway.

Last Monday’s Irish Grand National evoked plenty of memories for Roy Craigie, many of them from long before he enjoyed an 11-year stint as Fairyhouse general manager up to 1999.

So that’s Easter Monday nearly wrapped up. Here’s some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

It is a first Irish Grand National success for Willie Mullins, who saddled the first three home.

Tommy Lyons Three days of action in Cork, with Flat racing today, National Hunt tomorrow, and National Hunt with a bent towards the point to point fields on Monday.

Henry de Bromhead is putting his shoulder to the wheel as racing looks to attract new owners and followers but for now, the Co Waterford trainer, who has already been among the winners at Aintree this week, is looking forward to Valseur Lido taking part in today’s Grand National.

“When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I see over the bed post is a blue and gold string. So you can imagine what it’s like in my house, can’t you?”

Ross O’Sullivan is looking forward to running Call It Magic at Aintree again after the horse appeared to relish the unique fences in the Becher Chase.

Any doubts surrounding Tiger Roll’s participation in the Aintree Grand National were allayed by his trainer Gordon Elliott yesterday, who also revealed that the gutsy nine-year-old may well be one of a number of his charges who could follow up in the Boylesports Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse.

The Gordon Elliott-trained Battleoverdoyen gets the nap to retain his unbeaten record in the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.

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

It won’t come as a galloping shock should Cheltenham produce results this week that are impossible to explain.

Kayley Woollacott was widowed at 31 when her husband Richard finally lost his long battle with depression last year. She was left with a young daughter, a racing stable and two options. Fight or flight. She chose the former and has dealt the sort of grief that could crush a lesser mortal in a remarkably robust and positive way. She has embraced the legacy of her husband’s death to publicise the need for dialogue on men’s mental health while at the same time raising significant funds for charities working in the field.

As has become fairly traditional for me at this stage, Willie has left me on the side-lines the weekend before Cheltenham.

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.

Trust Arvico Bleu to put his experience to good use in the Templemore Beginners Chase, which opens today’s seven-race card in Thurles.

It has become an all-too-familiar refrain now but we remain in some sort of limbo until we get a serious drop of rain. It’s good, good-to-yielding ground, there are people mowing lawns, midges flying around – there’s nothing Januaryesque about it, writes Ruby Walsh.

If ever a trainer fit the handle of this column, it is Damien English, the Balbriggan native operating out of Grougha Stables in Naul.

Racing TV covered its first Irish race meetings on Tuesday, Fairyhouse, and Tramore, and one has to say, it was a less than satisfactory start, writes Pat Keane.

One race, one game, one day can only ever add to the information bank. It is never definitive.

With the ground the way it is, this is going to be another quiet weekend for the stable. There was rain due yesterday evening, more today and by tomorrow we could even be thinking we should have had more runners declared but, as it stands, the ground at Fairyhouse and Navan is too dry.

Some say Samcro disappointed at Down Royal, where he was picked off by the fitter Bedrock (Rachael Blackmore), but Kennedy won’t be hanging around today, writes Ruby Walsh

The winter season in Thurles swung into gear yesterday and there was a familiar feel to proceedings.