TOMORROW’S cards at Borris House, Boulta and Tattersalls Farm will bring the 2017 autumn season to a close. The pre-Christmas campaign, which was first introduced in 2001 in response to the Foot & Mouth crisis which had wiped out so much of that year’s spring campaign, has gone from strength to strength in terms of the quality of horses competing between the flags. 2017 has been an undoubted peak in this regard.

While the quality continues to soar, disappointingly, the quantity of runners has not enjoyed a similar boost, but it is not a reason for grave concern just yet.