12,000 Irish head for four-day racing festival

THE CONTINGENT of Irish racing fans travelling to this week’s Cheltenham Festival is expected to be 20 per cent smaller than in previous years, a festival organiser said yesterday.

About 12,000 Irish punters are expected to descend on the English spa town for the National Hunt meeting, about 3,000 fewer than in recent years.

The reduced numbers have been attributed to the effect of economic recession on consumer spending, in spite of the euro’s considerable gains against the pound during the last 12 months.

The four-day event, which begins tomorrow, is expected to attract more than 220,000 punters and features a 26-race card

Andy Clifton, Cheltenham Racecourse communications manager, said he expects fewer Irish this year but ticket sales in general have been quite strong. “The indications we are getting from travel companies is that the Irish numbers will be between 5 per cent and 20 per cent down on previous years,” he said.

“But we’ll be starting the week with 200,000 tickets sold and, given what’s going on economically both here and in Ireland, that is very encouraging.”

Mr Clifton said about 15,000 Irish punters would normally attend each day of the festival, equally divided between Irish people living in the UK and others travelling across the channel. “I think a lot of people were considering giving Cheltenham a miss in January, but the recent ticket sales have made us think that many of these have changed their minds.”

Tamarisk Doyle of Horse Racing Ireland said Irish punters will be looking for a “little something that might lift some of the doom and gloom”.

Despite the reduced attendance and straitened economic situation, it is estimated 20,000 bottles of champagne, 25,000 bottles of wine and 200,000 pints of Guinness will be consumed in Cheltenham over the coming days. A further 45,000 sandwiches, 40,000 bread rolls, 25,000 beef burgers and hotdogs, and 20,000 portions of chips will be eaten by festival-goers.

As always, the bookmakers will take a keen interest in the festival, with Mr Clifton predicting a bumper year of betting action. “I’d imagine there’d be in the region of £600 million (€668 million) bet across Britain and Ireland.”

Mr Clifton said Irish interest in the betting will be high, with no fewer than seven of the front-runners for the 26 races owned by Limerick business man JP McManus. Other Irish hopes include Sublimity in the Champion Hurdle, Colm Murphy’s Big Zeb in the Champion Chase, and Cousin Vinny in the opening race. “Bookies ending up on the wrong end of those results could be chasing their tail for months,” Mr Clifton said.