WHEN the weather intervenes in racing’s plans, there is always a temptation to take the occasional blank day and use it to look at the wider picture, so it’s no surprise that January tends to be the month where trainer form comes into sharper focus. There are some powerful yards in Ireland and the UK preparing what could be big teams for the Dublin Racing Festival and Cheltenham beyond that, and the turn of the year can be a time for a turn in fortunes.

Willie Mullins really only gets going in December, so it’s an opportune time to start examining the relative strength of the yard’s entries for the big meetings, and the fact that the championship events at Cheltenham close around this time of year, makes that project more rewarding than it would be a mere fortnight earlier.