SOMEWHERE the email said something about some race. It was from editor to writer. I read it fast. Recap. 800 words. Canadian graded stakes.

I never got to it.

Give me a break. It’s Far Hills time. There isn’t time for a recap about Woodbine’s graded stakes or the Queen Elizabeth II at Keeneland. Not when Far Hills offers seven jump races worth over $900,000, a setting out of a Munnings’ painting and pari-mutuel wagering for the first time. I’ve got five runners. It’s all I can think about.

The Far Hills Steeplechase has gradually become a juggernaut, the premier stop on the steeplechase circuit. It wasn’t always. I rode my first race there – a pony race on Red Raven, a thoroughbred twin who shared a pedigree with Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew.

October 29 1993. I won the race, somehow pushed one stirrup off the saddle and fell off a few strides after the wire. I won my first race and got my first stitches – seven actually.

BIG TIME

Far Hills graduated to the big time putting together a card packed with the stars of the game. You’ll recognize a bunch of them this year. Jockeys, trainers and horses.

British-bred Caldbeck, fourth in the Jimmy Beef Hurdle at Ballinrobe this September makes his first start for leading owner Rosbrian Farm and trainer Ricky Hendriks, battling perennial champion Jack Fisher for leading trainer honours.

Caldbeck takes on nine rivals in the three-year-old hurdle stakes. Snowie Hill should improve from her debut at Shawan Downs. I’ll be rooting for Flushed, ridden by Jack Doyle who is two in front for his first champion jockey crown, and Lonely Weekend. Win this one and it’s a free day.

Irish-breds Khafayya and Special Relation try to graduate in the second, a $50,000 maiden. Yes, a $50,000 maiden. Eight entries. I’ve got the favorite, Motivational. He’s 2/1. Having the favorite in a maiden sometimes means you’ve got a good maiden. He’s zero-for-five. That’s good and bad in my book. Sean McDermott will need to be at his best.

The third is handicap hurdle for horses rated 125 and lower. The purse is a cool $50,000. Like Cheltenham the French have invaded. Winner Massagot, Invocation, Mercoeur and Salix take on eight American-breds. I sit this one out, a good time to celebrate or commiserate.

Entries were so strong for the Foxbrook Champion Hurdle, a novice stakes worth $125,000, the Far Hills Race Association found the extra money and split the two-and-a-half-mile stakes. I fly the Irish flag with Irish-bred City Dreamer.

The Irish flag also waves with Belisarius, Bobabout and Veneer Of Charm. The latter makes his first start for Rosbrian and Hendriks. A Fred Winter winner at Far Hills. That might be a first.

I keep the Irish flag at the top of the pole in the next as Gibralfaro makes his fourth start since leaving Alan King’s yard. His first two races were good, his third was weak and now he takes on Irish raced Amschel, three-for-four over hurdles and a big buy by Irv Naylor at Goffs UK this summer.

Irish-bred Indian Hawk makes his second American start after a poor run at Belmont in September.

THE GRAND NATIONAL

The big one. The Grand National. A big race with a big name that’s actually just a hurdle race – a $450,000 hurdle stakes.

This year it is like the United Nations with French-bred Days Of Heaven, Hammersly Lake, Clarcam, Hinterland and Dawalan, German-bred Jaleo, Irish-bred/raced Tornado Watch, American-bred All The Way Jose and Irish-bred/based Jury Duty.

That’s America’s biggest race with one American-bred horse in the field. My day is over, I’ll sit back and root for Dawalan. The 2015 champion makes his first start since last year’s Iroquois. Cyril Murphy has aimed at this since July.

The feature is wide open as clubhouse leader, Zanjabeel, hit the shelf with a tendon injury. He wrapped up championship honors when he won the Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park in September. He surely has the title but there’s still $450,000 on the table.

The finale, the New Jersey Hunt Cup, at three and a quarter miles over timber presents another Irish contingent as Top Man Michael, a winner of the three-year-old stakes at Far Hills six years ago, takes on Irish-breds Carrickboy and Two’s Company. Top Man Michael should win. By then, hopefully I’ll be toasting a winner or two or three or four, and wondering who did win those races at Woodbine.

The Far Hills races kick off at 1:00.