The Christmas festival at Leopardstown appears to have been anything but a giveaway for the punters. Anyone who wanted to have a flutter on JP McManus's (left) Istabraq winning the Festival Hurdle would have had a curious decision to make.

The hot favourite's odds of 1 to 10 on meant that a £10 bet on the horse plus the additional 10 per cent tax punters have to pay in off-course betting shops would have netted the winner £11 pounds in total. In other words, if the horse won the race you got your money back, and if it didn't win you lose everything. Not exactly a prudent gamble, even when Charlie McCreevy's 5 per cent reduction in betting tax comes into being. At least then, you'd walk away with some profit.