Tony Keenan assesses the form before the big February shoot-out

IRISH RACING
Tony Keenan
January looks set to be the cruellest month in terms of Irish racing in 2018 as we have no Leopardstown meetings at all, those cards now compacted into the Dublin Racing Festival over the weekend of February 3rd and 4th. Instead we will journey from Naas to Fairyhouse to Thurles and back to Naas across the first four Sundays of the year. A major Sunday meeting at Thurles certainly offers novelty value, the track only having one other Sabbath card throughout the year, but the races in the first month har...