Cheltenham's Mares' Hurdle is not the problem - it's actually helping to paper over the cracks

I doubt very much those who pause to read my words every week do so for my insight into what happens on the track rather than off it. There was a time when I did tip horses every day, but that was in a different century when Teletext was the cutting edge of technology.

I will therefore try to resist the temptation to give you my fancies for the Cheltenham Festival, or indeed dissect the action from last weekend's Dublin Racing Festival. 

There is, however, one race at Cheltenham about which I have a strong opinion: the Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle. It is not, you will be relieved to hear, an opinion on what will win said race come March. Instead, it is about the contest's place at the festival and in the wider calendar.