The casual observer could be forgiven for assuming National Hunt racing rolls into high gear no more than two or three times a year.
Leopardstown and Kempton at Christmas, Aintree’s Grand National meeting and, of course, 'the Festival'.
Equine Superbowls that capture the sport-loving consciousness before back into hibernation the industry goes.
In reality, the game never sleeps. A hamster wheel that must be turned.
Before setting sail for Cheltenham over the weekend with three live chances in tow, trainer Paul Nolan’s mid-sized yard had the small matter of seven runners at three difference courses to navigate. The day job tugging at your elbow, even as you pack away your best suit on route to the big show.
Of those seven pre-Cheltenham runners, Backintheroom would go on to take a two-mile maiden hurdle at Gowran before, down the road at Navan, Daily Present – who held an entry for the Albert Bartlett before an ownership change – would justify 7-4 favouritism in a novice hurdle.
"You wouldn’t do this if you didn’t love it," Nolan insists, in the same matter-of-fact manner he says just about everything.
Distractions can be hard to find and even harder to make time for, but they're as welcome as they are necessary.
Nolan finds a diversion in one of the few disciplines more dangerous than top-class racehorse training: junior GAA club management.
You catch him the Friday before Cheltenham and recognise the familiar clack-clack of football boot studs on gravel in the background.
Nolan is on his way back to the dressing room after a challenge match his Wexford hurling side, Davidstown Courtnacuddy, were involved in.
"This is actually my kind of switch-off – if it’s a switch-off at all," Nolan – who wore the purple and gold himself in his playing days – reckons, before sharing arguably the best tip you’ll get all week.
"We’re in good shape – I think the lads have a great chance in the Junior Championship this year."
As perilous as the Wexford Junior Hurling Championship may be, it’s unlikely to keep you awake at night as readily as the challenge of trying to compete in a world where deep-pocketed rivals hold all the aces – and buy all the best horse flesh.
Nolan has had his share of successes and big days out. Joncol took a Hennessy Gold Cup at Leopardstown in 2010. He's plundered the Galway Hurdle and bloodied the noses of the big boys at Cheltenham on occasion.
He has also known his struggles. The loss of his stable star Latest Exhibition hit hard last year.
The fact that his owners had rallied to keep the horse in his yard despite a massive offer from some of those aforementioned deep pockets made it sting all the more.
The hope is that the impressive Sander Clegane can at least partly fill the void for the same ownership group.
"It was terrible to lose Latest Exhibition," he said of the Grade One winner who had to be euthanised after an accident.
"I was losing him to Willie anyway, but these lads stepped up and we were able to hold onto the horse," he said.
"And if they're rewarded with a decent sort like Sander Clegane turning out OK I’d be over the moon for them.
"They’re the sort of lads who stand up to be counted when we needed it the most."
The shadows of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott loom large on these islands.
"The lads who win in the sales ring usually win at the racecourse," he says plainly.
"You have to be realistic and see that you’re not going to compete on an even keel with Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott.
"We have 50-60 horses in the yard, 50 riding out, and you’re always looking to have better horses.
"But you can always improve. We’re blessed to have great owners in the yard. During Lockdown we brought in five or six horses, and three or four them have really worked out well.
"All that being said, if the talk about Willie's favourite is true – that he might be 14-17 pounds well in. If that's the case, he’s the winner all day long."
One of those better horses, Mrs Milner, gave Nolan a third Festival win when she made it home first in the Pertemps Handicap Hurdle.
The 12-1 shot joined Noble Prince, who won the JLT Novices’ Chase a decade earlier, and Dabiroun, who gave Nolan his first Cheltenham winner with a Fred Winter Hurdle triumph six years before that.
At the time, Nolan admitted to some pleasant surprise that the pocket-sized Mrs Milner – who he fancied to race very well – would fly in under the radar and beat the lot.
With Bryan Cooper for company again, she steps up to the Mares’ Hurdle on opening day on Tuesday this year and, if the Cotswolds does indeed have a radar, she’s no longer below it.
The market places her modestly at midpack in the field of 12, with no less than three Mullins runners ahead of her – perhaps more a testament to the openness of a class we have seen dominated by superstar mares in the past.
The seven-year-old will take plenty of Irish punters hopes with her when the tape goes up at 4.10pm on Tuesday.
"We sort of overcooked her in Newbury. She’d raced in Limerick, Newbury was kind of a funny race and she was never happy," Nolan says of a disappointing showing last time out.
"We gave her a break and decided to skip Leopardstown. She’s coming into Cheltenham in good order. We’re very happy with her.
"It’s a nice Mares’ Hurdle but there’s no Annie Power in it, it’s a far more open race this year – maybe without that real star quality we’re used to."
In what will surely count as the busiest and most stressful hour of his season, Nolan’s other Tuesday runner, HMS Seahorse, goes off 40 minutes later in the Fred Winter.
Here, his obvious confidence in his charge is tempered by the water cooler whispers surrounding Mullins’ favourite, Gaelic Warrior, who will carry the familiar colours of Rich Ricci and the equally familiar perch of Paul Townend.
"He’s a progressive horse, we’re very happy with him," Nolan says of the former Aidan O’Brien-trained HMS Seahorse.
"He’s not bad in the handicap, you’d love him a bit lighter – but then he might not have gotten in.
"All that being said, if the talk about Willie’s favourite is true – that he might be 14-17 pounds well in. If that’s the case, he’s the winner all day long."
Wednesday serves up what is traditionally one of the most intriguing gambling races in a week of intriguing gambling races.
Nolan will saddle Joyeux Machin in the Champion Bumper in a field soaked with Mullins runners. This, he suspects, might be no bad thing.
"You always say with this race, Willie usually picks one to point at this and maybe if he keeps a few in it’s because he’s not sure which is the best. But either way, he has a fierce hand going in it."
His bullishness about a horse who is available at chunky each-way odds is noticeable.
"We’re very pleased with her, she’s a good horse and this is one of the best renewals of the Champion Bumper we’ve seen.
"We would actually be disappointed if this horse is not there or thereabouts turning in."
Banging your head against a brick wall that was built in Closutton and rendered in Cullentra might not seem like everyone’s idea of a good time, but that’s the name of the game for the man who trained his first winner way back in 1998.
Racing rivalries have a particular Irishness to them. All back-slaps and sarcasm.
"Cheltenham really is the best of racing, there’s fantastic camaraderie – particularly between the Irish," Nolan says.
"We’re all trying to beat each other. I’d be very good pals with Gordon but I love to beat him if I can – we don’t get too many chances to – but I’m also delighted for him when he does well.
"The Festival is a fantastic week for everyone who likes racing."
