Ireland's patron saint is celebrated at the Cheltenham Festival on day three, with the action on St Patrick's Thursday looking devilishly difficult to decipher.
The main events are the Ryanair Chase and the Paddy Power Stayers' Hurdle, but there's no disguising the fact that the penultimate afternoon's fare has always been the weakest and least appealing of the week. This year is no different, but it at least whets the appetite for Gold Cup day.
The opening Ryanair Novices' Hurdle may be numerically strong, but it does appear to lack depth in terms of quality.
Sixandahalf and Galileo Dame head the market and are tough to separate, but that's reflected in their prices. Maughreen seems to have been overrated on what she's achieved so far and Karoline Banbou likely rates a bigger danger.
Il Est Francais is indeed French and might be the best horse in the Ryanair, but it's hardly encouraging that his two trips across La Manche have seen him pitch up at Kempton, a track completely different to what he will encounter here. He's the type that might win or run poorly, and not in between.
For all that Teahupoo (above) is the right favourite in the Stayers' Hurdle, he does look vulnerable to an improver. Lucky Place might be that horse, but he's shown plenty of speed and wouldn't want a strong early tempo over this trip.
The four handicaps on the seven-race card are punting minefields and it's the late money just before the off, rather than the early price changes that you should follow if you must have a bet.
There will be multiple selections for Friday's card, but for now Git Maker is a token selection in the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup.
Jamie Snowden's charge did well to finish runner-up in this race 12 months ago, where he faced an impossible task against future Grade One winner and Gold Cup hopeful Inothewayurthinkin.
Having made a late and inauspicious start to the current campaign, Git Maker's run last time out at Haydock was better than it looked.
Hopefully the application of first-time cheekpieces has the desired effect as his concentration levels weren't what they should have been on that outing.
Roll on Friday, but for now...
Be lucky!
Selection: Git Maker 0.25pt EW @ 14-1 Cheltenham, 5.20pm
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