I WAS pleasantly surprised that Ian McCarthy had time to chat to me on Wednesday afternoon. The former National Hunt jockey was just back from bringing horses to gallop at the Curragh before travelling to Deauville, where he is selling at the Arqana Breeze Up Sale, and if that weren’t enough, he had two runners at Wexford on Thursday afternoon.

All this comes just days after completing the cross-country double at Punchestown with Fountain House. Writing this, I start to feel ashamed that days earlier, I was complaining to myself I didn’t have enough time for all the menial tasks on my list.