Listowel's six-day extravaganza kicks off today and, at some stage of this week, the festival should be graced with a memorable landmark for the eight-times champion jockey Charlie Swan.
He needs only one more success to hit the magical 1,000 winner mark for his career so far, and with a full book of rides at the last big festival fixture of the year, it's surely only a question of when he gets that winner rather than if.
Swan's best chance today for setting the champagne corks flying looks to be Rainbow Frontier in the Devon Inn Juvenile Hurdle, but while Aidan O'Brien's horse is unbeaten from two runs over flights, he may find one too good for him and leave the champion hanging until tomorrow.
Hamamelis should be the party pooper judged on on his performance when he last faced Rainbow Frontier, at Roscommon early last month. Then he started a warm favourite to win and looked like doing so when going clear five out. However, he got run out of it close home by Swan and Rainbow Frontier and went down by a length.
Hamamelis, though is 9lb better off for that length, which theoretically puts him ahead. Theory has been blown out of the water before and Rainbow Frontier is a pretty tough operator, but with that first experience behind him, Hamamelis is hard to oppose.
Swan will be on Permit Me in the Bank Of Ireland Handicap Hurdle but the ground may not be quite soft enough for Permit Me, so Willie Mullins's Magical Fun is selected to follow up a very impressive success at Tralee.
It's probably best to ignore a subsequently disappointing effort on the flat at Galway, and Magical Fun, revitalised at Tralee after a long rest, should regain the winning vein at the principal expense of Bypharbeanri.
If Hill Society shows even a modicum of the form that saw him run such a blinder in the Champion Hurdle last March, he should comfortably make a winning debut over fences in the Beginners Chase.
A second to Theatreworld on the flat at Leopardstown proves he is in good form and he schooled particularly well over fences at Roscommon last Monday. In Paul Carberry, Hill Society has the ideal partner for his chasing bow and he should win.
The nap, however, goes to the two-year-old Jimmy The Greek in the opening Castle Maiden. After running second to a spectacular King Of Kings on his Curragh debut, Paddy Prendergast's colt looked a sure-fire future winner but disappointingly has failed to get his head in front.
Jimmy The Greek has always shown plenty of early speed in his races and now that he is put back to six furlongs, that asset can come fully into play. Dermot Weld's Ishbiliya ran a nice race behind Heed My Warning at Gowran and will be a danger, as will Festival Song, but they may have to go some to catch Jimmy The Greek.
Space Trucker may not find the ground ideal in the Aer Rianta Race but had a nice warm up in the charity race at the Curragh.
