If you were hoping to get the attention of the horse racing devotee in your life any time this week, forget about it: it’s Cheltenham Festival time. Brian O’Connor sets the scene ahead of day one, the feature race the Champion Hurdle. The New Lion’s clash with three women – Lossiemouth, Brighterdaysahead and Golden Ace – will, says Brian, be an intriguing prospect, but there’ll be no Constitution Hill, his role on the day reduced to being paraded about the place.
Will the home team “put it up to the Irish raiders this week”? If they do, Nicky Henderson will likely lead the charge, Brian talking to Barry Geraghty, who rode as Henderson’s number one jockey for seven seasons, about his longevity and success.
There is, though, a reasonable chance that a certain Irish trainer will have a fruitful week at the festival – as Brian puts it, “there are 113 reasons why putting your faith in Willie Mullins is a winning Cheltenham formula”.
In rugby, Gerry Thornley reflects on an “extraordinary rollercoaster” of a Six Nations and looks ahead to next Saturday’s final round of games. “Never has there been so much at stake for both teams in a championship clash since the Six Nations came into being,” he says of Ireland’s meeting with Scotland.
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But Owen Doyle reckons that Wales are entitled to feel aggrieved by some of the decisions in Friday’s game in Dublin. If they don’t see referee Karl Dickson “again for aeons, it will be all too soon”.
In Gaelic games, our learned scribes pick out five things they learned from the weekend, Malachy Clerkin turning his eye on Galway’s “jaw-dropping” total of 35 points against Kilkenny. They now have, he says, “a flinty look about them for the first time in years”. What of Kilkenny? “Their display, or lack thereof, will have alarm bells ringing from Tullaroan to Thomastown,” writes Gordon Manning.
In golf, Rory McIlroy‘s participation in the Players Championship remains uncertain, his back injury proving to be “stubborn”, but Philip Reid has better news about Séamus Power – he has been added to the field for the tournament. And in his Different Strokes column, Philip brings us Akshay Bhatia’s emotional reflections on winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a victory he dedicated to his late five-year-old niece.
And in football, Paul Buttner reports on a lively Dublin derby, Shamrock Rovers coming from two goals down to draw with Shelbourne. Despite the comeback, Rovers manager Stephen Bradley was none to happy about Shelbourne’s second goal, where referee Rob Hennessy appeared to signal a goal kick before allowing play to go on leading to John Martin’s tap-in.
In athletics news, Ian O’Riordan has details of the Ireland team for the World Indoor Championships in Poland later this month, with Kate O’Connor leading the medal hopes.
TV Watch: There’s more from the Winter Paralympics through the day on Channel 4, with highlights at 6.30pm, while day one of the Cheltenham Festival gets under way on Virgin Media One and UTV at 12.45pm. At 5.45pm, Galatasaray welcome Liverpool to hell in the Champions League (TNT Sports 1 and Premier Sports 1), and at 8pm, take your pick from Newcastle v Barcelona (Virgin Media Two) and Atletico Madrid v Tottenham (TNT Sports 1).
