'Punchestown Pumpers' dry the course, but Taoiseach says he's not drained

THERE WAS no dozing off for Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Punchestown yesterday when he got to the track shortly after 4pm.

He was wanted in the North Kildare Chamber of Commerce tent, but instead made a beeline for the “Punchestown Pumpers”, who’d been up all night.

John Luby and Jim Ryan, of Jim Ryan Sons, specialists in racecourse maintenance and drainage, worked through the night with 30 men to try to make the course fit for action after the deluge of the previous 24 hours.

“We’re only just finishing now,” Ryan from Golden, Co Tipperary, said.

“The Titanic would have sailed this morning here,” Luby chipped in.

The Taoiseach shook their hands and passed on his compliments. It was testament to their sense of community.

“They have an objective in mind and they do it,” he said. “To hell with the elements; the racing goes on at Punchestown.”

Asked if there was any danger he might doze off, as it had been claimed he did at a jobs announcement earlier in the day, he laughed and said “certainly not”.

After posing for photos with punters, including “almost 10-year-old” Sibéal Nic Giolla Coda, from Ballyknocken in Co Wicklow, the Taoiseach made it to the chandeliered Kildare tent, where the chamber of commerce was launching its strategic plan with the help of broadcaster Eddie Hobbs.

Kenny found himself momentarily looking up at Hobbs, who was standing on a box, but the optical illusion was soon corrected when they switched places.

The Taoiseach lost no time in telling the crowd how to vote in the upcoming referendum, before encouraging them to implement their strategy and urging them to “have a flutter”.

“Win, lose or draw, you’re alive and enjoying yourself,” he said.

Outside, there was almost a steward’s inquiry after TV3 Ireland AM presenter Sinéad Desmond accidentally announced the runner-up of the Best Dressed Lady competition, sponsored by Coast, as the winner.

But Yvette Byrne, a 23-year-old fashion design graduate from Griffith College, was gracious in defeat and stood aside for Maria Osborne, a 28-year-old trainee educational psychologist.

The local winner, from Kilrush in Co Kildare, wore a striking turquoise coat dress by designer Heidi Higgins from Aria Boutique in Naas. Her burnt orange shoes and bag were from Penneys and her head piece, in the same colour, was from Irish designer Mandy Fanning.

Despite the reduced race card and a smaller than hoped for attendance of 13,236 (down 2,300 on last year), there was still a good buzz around the course. Most of the punters were well prepared for the weather, but the real rain had the grace to hold off until after the big race, when a muddy Ruby Walsh took the Ladbrokes.comWorld Series Hurdle on the Willie Mullins-trained Quevega.

The skies opened for the Naas Court Hotel Handicap Hurdle and the punters ran for cover, only venturing out an hour later to make their way to their cars.

As the traffic snaked away from the third day of the festival, the Punchestown Pumpers could be seen rolling up their sleeves, another night’s work ahead of them.