Ruby Walsh: For feet through the gate, Leopardstown must look itself in the mirror

Most of Willie’s winter horses are 14 weeks away from seeing a racecourse, but it has caught my attention how many people look that far ahead

Some Dove (Rachael Blackmore - left) wins the Assembly Tech Handicap Hurdle at Tramore. Picture: Healys

AS the jet stream has taken a brief deviation from its usual course and headed north to bring some heat to Scandinavia, we have all enjoyed a short second summer before the cool winter and darkness approaches.

I don’t need the weather or the purchase of the paraphernalia our kids need to go back to school to tell me it’s coming. Our calendar in racing is set in stone, and two weeks ago, the horse boxes started to roll into Willie Mullins’s yard, and tubby, sun-kissed thoroughbreds emerged to begin what every sport terms ‘pre-season training’.