The official Grand National crowd of 21,500 at Fairyhouse yesterday was slightly down on last year but that didn't stop severe traffic delays for patrons trying to attend the meeting.

One British visitor reported that it had taken him an hour and a half to travel the short distance from the Navan Road turn-off to the track and trainer Willie Mullins said after saddling the first winner: "At least the horse didn't meet the traffic in the race that we did on our way here. It took an hour to travel three miles."

There were further problems during the running of the big race when an electrical fault caused the course commentary and pictures on the big screen in front of the stands to be persistently interrupted.

In a statement, the Fairyhouse management apologised for the breaks in transmission which they said was "caused by a temporary fault in the broadcast control van".

As for the traffic problems, a Fairyhouse spokesman said: "We used the same Garda procedures as usual. We tried to get people in as quickly as possible but a lot of people came late and were trying to get in at the same time."

A total of £1.2 million was bet at the track yesterday with £841,942 wagered with the bookmakers and £358,687 with the Tote. £193,756 was bet on the Grand National with bookmakers.