Rain and wind can’t beat back the Leopardstown crowds

A lot can be said for Irish fortitude in the pursuit of tradition. If something is simultaneously traditional and unbearable, tradition will win the day.

Such was the case at the Leopardstown Festival yesterday, where more than 13,000 people huddled together as razor winds and icy rain swirled all around. This is Christmas at Leopardstown; this is tradition.

"It's just an Irish thing," says Imelda Condron from Terenure, Dublin, a regular equestrianista, dismissing the notion that plummeting temperatures and ink-black skies might deter the tens of thousands who make the yuletide pilgrimage here every year.

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Laura Mooney from Kilkenny watches intently at the races at Leopardstown yesterday. Photograph: Cyril Byrne

“They are coming for a day out, for fun; to get out of the house after Christmas. It’s a novelty for people and it’s a brilliantly run event.”

Perhaps some reflection of the conditions could be found in the betting figures where bookies took in just under €870,000 for day two of the event, down more than €127,000 on last year. There was also a drop in attendance of 2,100, or 14 per cent, on last year but walking among the throngs of enthusiasts and novices alike, with betting slips fluttering in the wind and a palpable sense of Christmas cheer, you wouldn’t know it.

There were seven sponsored races yesterday, representing €430,000 in prize money.

'Said a prayer'
Leopardstown chief executive Pat Keogh said the rain was never going to be a threat but record winds gusting at 140km overnight were another story.

“I said a prayer coming through the gate that no trees had come down and remarkably none did,” he said.

"When you consider how bad the wind and rain was, it's quite an attendance and it's a credit to the quality of the race and a credit it to a great sponsor, Paddy Power, who worked really, really hard."

Meanwhile, up in the glass-fronted pavilion where such conditions are seen but not felt, a higher slice of life sat in relative luxury, eating their lunch.

If day one tends to bring a guarantee of Bono, then day two is about the ruling class and political establishment. Here Phil Hogan, Leo Varadkar, Pat Rabbitte and Brian Hayes sat, as did Des O'Malley, Emmet Stagg and Paul Kehoe.

"Michael O'Leary let me down," Leo Varadkar mused, mulling over his race-card and pointing ruefully to the Ryanair chief's horse Maxim Gorky. This though was not to be seen as a metaphor for his department's relationship with the notorious chief executive. "He has been good to us this year," Varadkar insisted, just not in the equestrian sense.

The main race, the €190,000 Paddy Power Chase, was won by Rockyaboya with Ruby Walsh in the saddle.

Afterwards, trainer Willie Mullins remarked that this winner had been on the verge of being sold as a lost cause until spotted by his son Patrick.

"Never look a gift horse in the mouth," he said, opting for the only cliche that would do for such an occasion. It was Rockyaboya's fifth win.

Eamon Dunphy

In fact, said Willie, he was only entered 30 seconds before the deadline. “Today we didn’t have much luck

but that was the biggest prize so it was good to get.”

Marian Finucane and Eamon Dunphy braced themselves for the wind as they prepared to leave. The former won a small bet, the latter was philosophical.

“It’s not about backing the winners, it’s just about coming to see the horses in the flesh,” said Dunphy.

"If the weather put you off in Ireland, " he said, "you would never go anywhere."