Counting down the days to Cheltenham Festival

The preview nights have started in earnest and it’s a case of counting down the days to Cheltenham, after so long ticking off the weeks.

I am taking part in four preview nights this year, with the first taking place at the Woodlands Hotel in Waterford last Thursday night. John Francome, Mick Fitzgerald, Davy Russell, Tom Segal, Nick Luck and Mike Cattermole were there too and the place was packed to the rafters. They even had a hundred people watching on a big screen in another room.

These events have become a phenomenon all of their own but Cheltenham is so big and popular, there seems to be an insatiable desire for anything to do with the festival.