Davy Russell's retirement was racing's worst-kept secret - yet here we are again

It is not so much about expecting the unexpected in this game, more expecting the expected and ensuring everything is in the can when it inevitably happens.

Obituaries can be written months, often years, in advance, and you must be ready for retirements. Once a jockey gets into their late thirties, it's time to click into retrospective mode. Speed is of the essence in this modern era of instant information being at your fingertips.

That brings me back to last December and a pretty mundane Monday. A request arrived to do up 'some Davy Russell stuff' (parts of a retirement package) given there was no Irish racing and not a lot happening.