Rich Ricci gets richer as bookies have field day

IT WAS more like spring than winter at sunny Leopardstown, where at least some of those attending took advantage of the unseasonably…

IT WAS more like spring than winter at sunny Leopardstown, where at least some of those attending took advantage of the unseasonably good weather to make hay. In fact, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals had made theirs already, and were selling it at €3 a bale in a “hay drive” for disadvantaged horses. But the bookies also enjoyed a field day, seeing several well-backed favourites beaten.

Then there were the winners of the day's feature event, whose metaphorical hay-making skills are second to none. Few horse racing owners anywhere can be as aptly named as Rich Ricci (surname pronounced "Richie"): one of Britain's highest-paid bankers, who earlier this year pocketed £44 million in pay and extras from his employer Barclay's. What do you get such a man for Christmas? Well, victory in Leopardstown's Racing PostNovice Steeplechase, apparently.

Despite his wealth, Ricci danced a jig of delight as he watched his wife’s horse – Blackstairmountain – gallop to the €55,000 prize. As the Riccis got richer, however, there were not many dancing with them. The punters’ hot favourite, Michael O’Leary’s Bog Warrior, had fallen at the fourth fence. So outside banking circles, at least, the mountain’s triumph at the bog’s expense was an unpopular result.

Not that it was a bleak mid-winter for the O’Learys either. The family’s Gigginstown Stud operation picked up two of the day’s prizes, with brother Eddie doing the lifting in place of the Ryanair chief executive. The latter’s absence was perhaps apt given that one of the victories was a triumph of diplomacy, something with which he would never be associated.

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It just so happened that the race in question was sponsored by United Arab Emirates as part of a month-long celebration of that country’s 40th anniversary. Naturally, the UAE’s ambassador was there for the presentation. And the name of the O’Learys’ winning horse? “His Excellency”, of course. The unusual prizes – ceremonial swords – were also probably best kept out of Michael O’Leary’s hands, although, on receiving the one for winning owner, his brother couldn’t resist asking: “Do these work?”

The swords were a deliberate attempt to award something different from the normal racing trophies, ambassador Khalid Nasser Rashid Lootah later explained, and they continued a theme introduced at Punchestown earlier this year when the same sponsors presented ceremonial daggers. One wonders what they’ll give next year. But clearly the UAE is in tune with the mood of the times in IMF-Ireland, where cutting equipment of all kinds is highly prized.

Speaking of cuts, Leinster House was well represented at Leopardstown thanks to Donna’s Palm, a horse owned by a dozen serving or former politicians: the Grand Alliance syndicate. This presented a potential conflict of interest for Dáil Ceann Comhairle Seán Barrett, who is one of the Leopardstown stewards and so, declaring his interest, had to stand himself down for the race. He needn’t have bothered, as it turned out, with Donna’s Palm trailing in unplaced.

Providing a touch of the Christmas spirit, meanwhile, was Oliver Brady. The Monaghan trainer is something of a cult at Irish racetracks – both because he beat what looked like terminal cancer several years ago and because of the raucous celebrations whenever one of his small string of horses wins.

His latest stable star, One Cool Shabra, came within a neck of victory yesterday while being edged into second place in the UAE hurdle. After which an uncharacteristically subdued trainer apologised to his fans for the lack of revelry. But as he explained, he hadn’t much time to hang around anyway. He had to catch a 4pm flight to Kenya, where a charity he set up has built a school for orphans.

There were a couple of well-backed winners yesterday but it was very much the bookies’ day, as the last race confirmed. This featured what is still known in betting slang as a “banker”: a horse that punters are depending on to win. But as luck would have it, the horse – Champagne Fever – was also owned by the Riccis.

Hoping to share their well-known luck, the public had backed the horse into odds-on favouritism. Unfortunately, it could only finish second, rather dampening the fever. And as the winter sun set on Leopardstown, a 12-1 outsider called Thomas Edison provided the light by which the bookies counted their winnings.