The evenings are lengthening, the winter storms have abated (for this week at least), and the annual feast of National Hunt racing that is the Cheltenham Festival is upon us once more.
With 28 races - half of them Grade 1s - over four days, it doesn't get any bigger for the National Hunt supporter.
Once again, the Irish will travel in their droves, and once more Irish horses, trainers, and jockeys are expected to dominate.
However, this year the journey will be tinged with sadness following the death last month of talented Irish jockey Michael O'Sullivan. The 24-year-old, who won two races at the Festival in 2023, died following a fall at Thurles racecourse.
The tale is well told, at this stage, that not too long ago the Irish travelled to Cheltenham more in hope than expectation.
1989 was the infamous year when Irish horses returned home without a single win between them.
However the last decade or so has seen the tables very much turned. The Prestbury Cup, the trophy that tallies Irish versus British winners, hasn’t been won by Team GB since 2015.
Heading the Irish success story for a long time now, has of course been Willie Mullins.
Tourist Attraction won the Supreme Novices in 1995, giving him his first winner. These days the Closutton maestro seems to have few rivals.
He saddled his historic 100th Cheltenham Festival winner last year when Jasmin De Vaux won the Champion Bumper. A total of nine 2024 winners leave him standing on 103 victories ahead of this week's exploits.
Names like Elliott, De Bromhead and more recently Cromwell also appear to have a near vice like grip on National Hunt success.
Maybe the Danoli-esque romance is no more, or maybe you just have to look a little harder - for there are Irish trainers, owners and breeders who still dream of just making it to the start line at Prestbury Park, and for whom the festival is still the stuff of legend.
At Lake Tour Stables outside Tramore in Co Waterford, the Cheltenham Festival is as all-consuming as it is in any yard.
Midnight Our Fred might be the sole entry for trainer JP Flavin, but that doesn’t mean the excitement and nerves are any less.
Second in December's Paddy Power chase at Leopardstown, Midnight Our Fred is a genuine contender for Thursday's Kim Muir Challenge Cup.
"I'm sure for a Gaelic footballer or hurler it would be like going to Croke Park on All-Ireland final day," says Flavin, adding that "the anticipation for the last few months is unbelievable".
With around 25 horses in the yard, Flavin is hardly a small trainer but he appreciates the difficulty of taking on bigger yards and indeed their reputations,
"Well, it's tough, but they are great men," he says, "and they have raised the standards in Irish racing unbelievably.
"We just have to keep on improving and hopefully be able to take them on, and now I have a horse that can hopefully go there and do that so it’s not impossible. We just have to keep at it".
Though it’s a first festival tilt for Midnight Our Fred, the seven-year-old has run three times on the course, finishing second on each occasion.
"I'd be more hopeful than optimistic," says Flavin, "because it's Cheltenham at the end of the day, and you are taking on the big boys. So you have to just go there and hopefully everything happens right on the day. Let’s see how we go."
The dreams don’t stop with Flavin either, the horse is owned by the same people who bred him - mother and daughter duo Florence and Emily Lockwood.
They are even more excited about the week ahead.
"It’s quite nerve racking really," says Emily, "It’s the fire in your belly. It's everything that we wanted.
"We were there when he was born, and to see him just going down to Cheltenham in the festival is just phenomenal.
"It's what dreams are made of. I go to sleep at night, not thinking about my work activities. I'm thinking about Midnight Our Fred, and just how it's all evolved. It's just wonderful for us as a family and for the Flavin family as well."
Florence Lockwood has an especially big week ahead; she'll be 80 the day before the Kim Muir.
"I've always thought I'd love to have a runner at Cheltenham, and now I've had three runs there and three seconds. So that's on its own is just amazing, so long as he comes home safe, and the jockey of course!
"Anything after that is a bonus. Of course I'll very nervous, but then I might pass out if he wins!"
Flavin has the final word on the week ahead: "We get up every morning early to be working hard to try and get horses like this into the yard, and then hopefully get them to Cheltenham and places like that.
"So, yeah, it's a huge boost to put your name on the map with the bigger lads.
"I'd say they’d be a lot of people that wouldn’t have known my name before, but hopefully they will now," he laughs
Any talk of this year's renewal requires a sad footnote.
The start of Cheltenham’s first race each year is traditionally greeted with the famous "Cheltenham Roar". However, 2025 is going to be different.
That roar may still be heard this time round, but there will be real sadness too.
The race has been renamed the Michael O'Sullivan Supreme Novices' Hurdle in memory of the 24-year-old jockey who died tragically last month following a fall in Thurles.
Cork man O’Sullivan and Marine Nationale won the race just two years ago.
RTÉ racing analyst Jane Mangan sums up perfectly the feelings of the racing community.
"It's a very poignant and fitting tribute to the man," she says.
"There will definitely be a subdued feeling at this year's festival, and a huge level of perspective. Michael's loss will be felt for a very long time, and the only thing that you or I or anybody can really do is remember him and that's what we intend to do next week."
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
