ONE of the most easily justifiable criticisms of the National Hunt season is that everything seems to revolve around Cheltenham in March, with every decent contest prior to that being seen as mere preamble.

That’s not quite the case, of course, not least because the season doesn’t stop at Cheltenham, with the impact of both Aintree and Punchestown Festivals growing to comparable levels, and it’s more a case that the meat of the season is concentrated into a frenetic six-week period from mid-March onwards, with a certain shindig at Fairyhouse thrown in for good measure.