It's horses for courses as almost comical wrong turn proves major talking point, writes CIAN NIHILL
THE PUNCHESTOWN races got under way yesterday in Co Kildare and it did not take long before the National Hunt Festival produced a talking point for the day.
While the compelling rivalry between Sizing Europe and Big Zeb in the big race was the focus for serious racing analysts, for everybody else it was the almost comical wrong turn taken by the aptly named Let The Show Begin when leading the first race.
With a lead of about two lengths the horse ran straight ahead instead of taking the second last turn for home. "I've been racing all my life and trust me you don't see anything like that too often," said Ger Daly from Fermoy, Co Cork.
In fairness, the horse was only one of three which went off track in the opening race, run over the exciting but complex banks course.
Daly and his father Dave had travelled up from Fermoy yesterday in a car along with friend PJ Kenny. "There are good horses here. It's better than a lot of other meeting where it might be a little more about the social aspect, but here you get the real racing," said Ger.
Despite that there was plenty of socialising evident yesterday. Women competing in the Arnotts Best Dressed Lady competition were clearly willing to pay the price for fashion as many spent the day battling the weather with feathered hats that, while elegant, proved hard to control in the wind.
One former winner of that competition, Bernie McGrath from Wicklow, has been coming to the festival for many years but won in other ways at the track yesterday. Along with friends Assumpta O'Neill and Margaret Kealy, also from west Co Wicklow, they were, as a group, up on the bookies for the day.
"We've been coming since we were in national school," said Margaret, perhaps explaining their knack for picking a winner.
"Back then you used to get the three days off school and everybody would come up. It was like a religion. It was like Mass, you just came," she said.
"I used to come with the family too more recently, but one year I told my son, who was about to back a horse called Uncle Neds that it had no chance of winning. It won and he never forgave me fully - he hasn't come back to Punchestown since," she said.
Some experienced punters weren't as fortunate as the women from Wicklow.
Not many people present this week will know the course better than Tom Tuohy from Dundrum in Tipperary, who helped construct the parade ring and a service road through the course four years ago but still had no winner midway through the first day.
"I'm a retired farmer, I just helped out . . . as a hobby because I love horse racing," said Tom, who has gone as far afield as Melbourne in Australia and Kentucky in the United States, but rates Punchestown as "one of the finest tracks" he has ever seen.
"It's the second biggest festival of the year for me behind Cheltenham but it's my favourite because it's at home - I've been coming for 40 years," he said.
There were plenty of familiar faces on the other side of the perpetual battle between punter and bookmaker too. Donal Carty from Kells, Co Meath, first came to Punchestown almost 30 years ago when he was 14 years old.
"The good weather, the good races, it's a great meet. There is a Grade One race every day and the prize money is good, which brings out the good horses. It's our Cheltenham, it has to be our Cheltenham," he said.
Donal, however, said that he was worried about this year's festival.
The recession had taken its toll in the past couple of years on attendance and with the Easter holidays just over, he worried that people might be back into a normal routine and less willing to take a day out at the races. "People might have gone away on holidays and spent the bit of cash. It could be a case of back to school for the kids and back to reality," he said. Festival organisers had hoped that following concessions on prices and a number of upgrades to track facilities, the meeting might reverse the downward trend of recent years and attract some 100,000 visitors.
Yesterday's attendance was slightly down on last year, 13,721 in comparison to 14,177 in 2010.
However, the best advice given out yesterday was from seasoned racegoer Michael Walsh from Dublin who, after losing in the first two races, cheerily said "we've a long week ahead of us".
The festival runs for five days with the final day, a family day, on Saturday.