Ruby Walsh: Cheltenham's Festival Trials Day is a massive marketing mistake

At Gowran Park on Thursday, Nick Rockett's win in the Thyestes showed the joy that National Hunt racing can bring. 

Mouse Morris's Gentlemansgame goes in the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham's Festival Trials Day. Picture: Healy Racing

You know the beautiful month of January is coming to a close when you wheel into the Gowran Park Racecourse car park for Thyestes Day. Spring and February are on the horizon, even though the country had to nail itself down as Eowyn blew through and did its best to push us all closer to Norway.

Still, the evenings are stretching, and Kilkenny’s signature race meeting warms even the cynical as it fires out results to please the Thursday faithful and ensure they return in 12 months. The locals got a cheer when Tom and Danny Mullins landed the first, the From The Ground Up Syndicate took over the parade ring when Aspurofthemoment struck in the second, and Rocky’s Diamond downed the big guns for the smaller establishments when he won the Galmoy.