Ruby Walsh: Trying to find a winner before longest week of the year

Most Cheltenham dreams are still alive but some, like Marine Nationale, have already turned into nightmares. 

NON-STOP: We're three days out from the off of the biggest week in National Hunt racing but the sport's relentless wheels keep turning elsewhere. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

I guess it's easy for the British trainers based south of Newcastle this weekend. There is no major upheaval about to start, no logistical frustrations as horse boxes disappear out of the yard with a third of your horses and half your staff. There are plenty who would love the headache this side of the Irish Sea, too, but the longest week of the year is just about to start for all those working for Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott. Henry de Bromhead and Gavin Cromwell will be making do too, calling in weekend workers to fill the gaps at home left by staff in the Cotswolds and faces you never see again will appear beside with horses on the Cheltenham gallops as friends of a friend are drafted in to lighten the load.

Most of the dreams are still alive this morning, but some, like Marine Nationale, have already turned into nightmares, and I am sure Barry Connell’s staff would love to have been heading for Dublin Port tomorrow morning. By next Saturday, there will be more participants looking for the back of Cheltenham than hoping it had a fifth day but that is all for next week. While Willie Mullins used to encourage me to skip this week, probably knowing my creaking body would be better for a rest, no one else does and the relentless wheels of the racing circuit churn on.