THEY’RE off. The European turf season is underway, in France and Ireland, and a whole lot of race watchers will emerge from hibernation to follow classic hopes, promising maiden winners from last year, and welcome with great expectations the first runners from our racing heroes of just a few seasons ago.

In Ireland, the Curragh was the setting on Sunday for the first meeting of the 2026 season, and it was a warm-up act for me because at dawn the following day I was on my way to just outside Rosegreen, near Cashel, to see some of the bluest-bloods put through gentle paces at Aidan O’Brien’s famous yard, the splendid Ballydoyle. A couple of hours after arriving at the front gates for a 7am start, I left with so many indelible pictures in my head.