Take a break from Cheltenham chat as Haggas has one lined up for the Lincoln

It’s become a Cheltenham tradition for me to take a break from thinking about the festival the week before the meeting starts. Not only is there the fear of Cheltenham burnout and so I don’t enjoy the racing as much as I should but also because you tend to hear so much stuff from so many different sources that your head is full of bits of information that you don’t really want rattling around in there.

I’m a big believer that the best way to find winners and enjoy horseracing is by using your eyes and blocking your ears. However, the run-up to Cheltenham makes that impossible because there is so much gossip and rumour flying around it is impossible to avoid.

I’ve personally made a conscious decision to do only a couple of Cheltenham preview evenings for the last few years simply because someone will always say something that gets lodged in your brain and you can’t get it out. It skews your thinking and has in the past stopped me being as analytical as I should. Hence the complete break from Cheltenham for this week.