Ruby Walsh: Scottish National adds some spice to horse racing's twilight zone

Runners circle before the start of the Michael Cawe Suspended Ceilings Handicap Hurdle at Ballinrobe yesterday. Picture: Healy Racing

It is that slightly weird time of year in the racing world — actually it happens twice a year — when each code starts to wind down but the other hasn’t really gotten into full flow, leaving the casual fans caught between two stools.

Well, that’s where I am anyway, because it was weird trying to revert my brain back to what happened last autumn as I watched the Nell Gwyn and the Craven Stakes on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile during the week. It was a touch frustrating watching the Queen’s Tactical scrape home in the free handicap at odds of 5/1, the same horse who bounded clear in last season’s Windsor Castle at the Royal meeting in June.