'I was delighted to see him entered for the 2,000 Guineas' - Tom Segal with a dark horse for the Flat season

I know it is all anyone wants to talk about at this time of the season, and like everyone else I can't wait for Cheltenham to start, but at this stage every year I take a week off from thinking about it.

There are a number of reasons why, but the most important of them is so that when the meeting starts next week I can come into it with a fresh set of eyes and without the preconceived ideas we have all built up in the lead-up to the festival.

I used to do lots of Cheltenham preview nights, but not anymore because I found that when I did them bits of information, some good but most of it bad, would get lodged in my brain and I couldn't get them out. As a consequence I often found myself going against my instincts and what has served me well over the years.