There is something seriously wrong when Mouse Morris is going 14 months without a winner in Ireland

Mouse Morris went 292 days without a winner and hadn't trained a winner in Ireland for 418 days. Digest that sentence for a second. Even writing those words doesn't feel right. There is almost a sense of shame in my fingers as they go searching for the keys on the keyboard. You read it back, but you still don't really believe it.

This is the same Michael Francis Leo Morris who sent over Trapper John to finish second in the 1989 SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle, as close as Ireland got to a Cheltenham Festival winner that year. Hard to believe now. He returned the following year to land the Stayers' Hurdle.

This is the same MF Morris who masterminded the careers of Lastofthebrownies, Cahervillahow, What A Question, His Song, Boss Doyle and Foxchapel King; horses who helped get me hooked on jump racing, trained by the most lovable of rogues whose croaky nicotine-fuelled cough/laugh remains one of the most recognisable sounds in the sport.