So I won't. But it is.

Actually, while the rain might not be that pleasant for all the rest of you walking down the street, I can assure you it's welcome news for racing people.

The heat and dryness of the summer we had means there's very little cut in the ground yet. We need a lot of rain to make the ground genuinely soft so that we can start the getting the season going properly. The sooner it arrives, the sooner the winter horses can start coming back onto the tracks.

The sooner also that the Cheltenham horses can start appearing in front of the public again and the sooner it will all start cranking up again.

Before you know it, we'll have the JP McManus Hurdle at Tipperary and the National Lottery Chase at Punchestown. Both of those come next month and from then on, one week will lead into the next and the good races will come thick and fast.

Before that, though, we have the Listowel festival this week. It's a great festival. There's quality racing, definitely more so than in Galway although there's no chance of us getting anything like the crowds we get every year at Ballybrit.

The people that come are real, sound, proper racing fans.

With the schools back, you're not talking families and kids and people on a day out. You're talking an older crowd, punters who know what they're looking for and who'll have an eye out for a few horses to follow over the winter. If Kerry win the All Ireland today, the atmosphere will go up another notch or two and even if they don't, there'll be a good few there for Wednesday and Thursday anyway.

The Kerry National is always a good race. You only have to look back at the calibre of the horses that have won it over the years to see where it stands.

Monty's Pass won it in 2002 and within seven months, he'd won the Grand National at Aintree. Dorans Pride won it in 1997 and six months later only just didn't make it up the hill in the Gold Cup.

And it's a race that's been good to me, as I've won it the last two years.

Euro Leader took me home last year but he has top weight this time around and I don't know if he'll be running. If he is, I'll be on him but if he isn't, it'll be Bothar Na. The one thing I'd say beyond the Kerry National is to keep an eye out for horses that do well in the novice chases as ones who'll do well through the winter.

One horse who sadly won't be doing anything this winter or any other is an old friend of mine Azertyuiop. I got a text from Paul Nicholls when he decided the horse had to be retired and although this kind of thing happens all the time, it still had an effect on me. I mean, obviously I'd known there was a decent chance he wouldn't be able to make it back from injury after being out for so long but it was still a bit of a wrench when I heard the news.

I suppose the worst thing and the best thing ever to happen to Azertyuiop was Moscow Flyer.

The worst in that without Moscow, I'm sure he'd have won at least one if not two more Queen Mothers to go along with the one he won in 2004 and the Arkle of the year before. But the best as well in that without him, he mightn't have had to show what a class horse he was. Azertyuiop was a great horse and the reason we know that for sure is that Moscow Flyer brought it out in him.

The Tingle Creek in 2004 is still the best race I've ever ridden in. I think one of the reasons I like it so much is that it's so rare that you get really good horses coming together and competing like that outside of Cheltenham. This was a wintry December day at Sandown and you had Azertyuiop, Moscow Flyer and Well Chief all going hell for leather like it was the first Tuesday of Cheltenham.

We were beaten that day but I'll always remember it and I'll always remember Azertyuiop.

A hell of a horse.

rwalsh@tribune. ie