Members of the Istabraq Supporters' Club, based at J.P. McManus's home parish of Donoughmore and Knockea, Co Limerick, will be travelling to Cheltenham next week to bet on their favourite horse making history.
The club has adopted the green-and-gold colours of the local South Liberties GAA club, the same as Mr McManus's racing colours. Mr McManus was chairman of the parish GAA club for three years in the early 1970s. The Istabraq Supporters' Club came about as a response to the success of the horse - a three-times champion hurdle winner at Cheltenham- and out of loyalty to his owner, Mr McManus, and his family, members of whom still live in the Ballysheedy area, about five miles from Limerick city.
"He was a neighbour. We knew all the McManuses from our days of growing up. J.P. played in an odd match himself in his youth," Mr Michael O'Brien, a founder member of the supporters' club, said.
With Istabraq set to make a new record as the only horse to win a fourth successive Smurfit Champion Hurdle win at Cheltenham next Tuesday, passions are running high. Last year, the festival was cancelled because of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth in Britain.
"He is also going for his fifth successive Cheltenham festival win. He won the Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle in the first year he ran there in 1997," Mr John Cooney said.
Last year, Istabraq became the first national hunt horse to earn more than £1 million in prize money in the Republic or Britain.
The Istabraq Supporters' Club turned out in force to watch him win his fourth successive AIG Europe Champion Hurdle in January 2001, when the horse's owner sponsored the trip from the parish.
"J.P. got to hear this was going on and he contacted us and said he would like to be associated with it. He asked would we extend it parish-wide and he sponsored the trip.
"Istabraq won and confounded all sorts of rumours that he was injured," he said.
Mr Cooney added that club members who will not be travelling will be watching the race at one of four pubs in the Ballyneety/Ballysheedy area.
"People will be backing him out of sentiment. It will be all down to a bit of luck on the day."