Given the much-needed thaw that began earlier this week, hopes are high that racing in the country will resume over the weekend at Thurles. 
This two-day fixture was thought to be under threat at one stage but an improvement in conditions at the Tipperary track has meant that there is now a strong possibility that the first fixture since a curtailed card at Cork on January 2 will get the go-ahead.
Speaking to The Clare Champion on Tuesday afternoon, course manager at Thurles, Pierce Molony, said, “We are optimistic we will race but we may have to put it back by 24 or 48 hours depending on how things pan out in the meantime. We were due to race on Thursday and Friday but, while the rain has come, there is still a very cold wind, which isn’t helping our cause.
“I would say it is a certainty we will race this weekend, whether it is on Friday and Saturday, or Saturday and Sunday, I cannot be sure at this stage. A lot will depend on how things fare with other tracks and things like that so it is still very much up in the air.
“There has been a welcome rise in temperatures since Monday and things are looking much brighter as a result,” concluded Molony.
Meanwhile, it is hoped that the first point-to-point action of 2010 will also be staged over this coming weekend. With Dromahane on December 30 the last action between the flags, hopes are high that the rescheduled Muskerry Foxhounds meeting at Aghabullogue, County Cork on Saturday afternoon will get the green light and kick-start the New Year action.
There are three meetings down for decision on Sunday, the Shillelagh & District at Tinahely, Wicklow, the Killeagh Harriers outing in East Cork and the Scarteen Foxhounds session at Kilfeacle, Tipperary.

Cheltenham looming

The recent lack of action on track due to the big freeze up has afforded jumping fans an opportunity to run the rule over some of what are likely to be the leading lights in the second half of the 2009/10 National Hunt season. 
Naturally enough, all eyes are now firmly turned towards the upcoming Cheltenham Festival and every performance, from the big meetings over Christmas right up to the early days of March, will be analysed with a view to how the championship races might unfold at the world-famous four-day extravaganza at the foot of the Cotswolds.
Even at this remove – there is still over eight weeks to go to the mid-March fixture – a few ‘banker’ bets have emerged. Philip Fenton’s Dunguib, if he gets to the meeting in one piece, is likely to go off as big a certainty as ever looked out through a bridle for the opening Neptune Investment Novices’ Hurdle (formerly the Supreme Novices) on March 16 and few could argue on the basis of what we have seen so far.
A brilliant winner of the Weatherbys Champion bumper at Prestbury Park last March, this imposing son of Presenting has won his three starts over timber in facile fashion and, given the way things have panned out on the weather front of late, Fenton has done exceptionally well in getting that much-needed hurdling experience into the now seven-year-old. Without question, Dunguib is a proper horse and, having that vitally important win over the track under his belt, punters haven’t been slow to lump on again as he is currently 6/4 favourite for the opening race of this year’s festival.
Interestingly, there has been speculation in some quarters that Dunguib may go for the Champion Hurdle. While nothing can ever be totally ruled out in horse racing, Philip Fenton is a man with his feet firmly rooted to the ground and, when he suggests that his stable star will be sticking to the novice route this season, then it is more than likely that will be the case.
Dunguib is scheduled to have his final prep-run for Cheltenham in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown early in February which, all going well, should leave him spot-on for his festival assignment.
Last year’s impressive Ruby Walsh-ridden World Hurdle winner Big Buck’s is another that fits neatly into the ‘certainty’ category where Cheltenham 2010 is concerned. Paul Nicholls’ French-bred has taken to long-distance hurdling like a duck to water and, ironically, he may never have gone that route were it not for a twist of fate.
The Andy Stewart-owned seven-year-old looked destined for a fruitful career over fences until unceremoniously decanting Sam Thomas at the final fence in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Sandown in November 2008.
After that mishap, Nicholls suggested to his owner that Big Buck’s may benefit from an outing over the smaller obstacles and the rest, as they say, is history.
He hasn’t been beaten in his six outings over hurdles since and, given his demolition job when defeating Karabak with contemptuous ease in the rescheduled Long Walk Hurdle at Newbury over Christmas, it is easy to see why he is a best-priced 1/2 shot to retain his World Hurdle crown on March 18. 
Walsh and Nicholls, currently one of the most enduring partnerships in jump racing, can also look forward to the festival with a strong hand in the week’s showpiece, the Totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup, with two leading contenders in Kauto Star and Denman.
Much has been made of the possible clash of these two titans and, if both stay injury free in the meantime, this has the potential to be a classic confrontation.
The imperious display of Kauto Star in claiming a record-breaking four-in-a-row in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day was, without doubt, the highlight of the jumping season so far.
It is very hard to turn up for these top races in peak condition every day but Kauto Star has managed to beat the best around on a regular basis and his most recent King George display was, arguably, his finest hour.
Understandably, he is now a red-hot 5/4 favourite to win back-to-back Gold Cup’s with Denman, who put up such a heroic weight-carrying performance to win the Hennessy Gold Cup, his nearest rival at 5/2 in most betting lists. Again, a lot depends on how things pan out from here to March 19 but, on the face of it, it appears a match between the Nicholls-trained pair at this particular juncture.
On the other hand, the Champion Hurdle is shaping up to be the most open in years. There are a host of horses fancied for hurdling’s most prestigious crown and the market for this event has see-sawed quite a bit over the past few months, with very little separating the top seven in the betting at this stage.
As things stand at the moment, Nicky Henderson’s Zaynar tops the ante-post market on the 5/1 mark. He won last year’s Triumph Hurdle in good style and is a progressive type whose star is on the up. His stable companion, Binocular, was well fancied to land the Champion Hurdle last season but had to give best when only third to another Henderson runner in Punjabi, who beat Celestial Halo into second place.
Charles Byrnes’ Solwhit is an interesting contender. He is top-class on his day, as he proved with an easy success in the Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas and his only blip came in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle, where he failed to sparkle behind Go Native.
Mind you, that form with Go Native doesn’t look too bad now that Noel Meade’s horse, who went on to land the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton on St Stephen’s Day, is on course to pick up a £1 million bonus if successful in the Champion Hurdle.
Last year’s winner, Punjabi, even though he missed what looked an ideal pre-Cheltenham outing with the abandonment of the Welsh Champion Hurdle at Ffos Las recently, cannot be ruled out for one second, while there has been an interesting nibble at fancy prices for Willie Mullins’ 2009 Ballymore Properties Novice Hurdle winner Mikeal D’Haguenet (even though Mullins still claims he will embark on a chasing career in the near future), who is now as low as 16/1 for the March 16 showpiece.
Of the remaining outsiders, one well worth keeping an eye on is Colm Murphy’s mare, Voler La Vedette. Murphy won the Champion Hurdle back in 2006 with Brave Inca so he knows what it takes and this mare, who beat Go Native easily when the pair clashed at Down Royal in November, could well emerge as something of a surprise package.   
Backing any horse ante-post for any race is a perilous business as the training of racehorses is, without question, a day-to-day affair.
Looking into a crystal ball trying to predict what might happen in the future is very, very difficult and, where the Champion Hurdle is concerned at least, a clearer picture might emerge after the Toshiba Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown on Sunday week.