Punters ready for War of Attrition with bookies
Boarding the charter plane that would carry us to Cheltenham, packed with the monied and the manicured, and mostly male, the talk was all of War of Attrition, ripe for today's Arkle Chase.
Trilby-ed and topped off with a jaunty feather, Mick Staunton from Turner's Cross, Cork, looked more the part than most. Not surprising given he's one year off his silver anniversary of Cheltenham trips.
"My money's on War of Attrition, he was second last year in the Supreme Novice's Hurdle and I think he'll do it this year," was his advice to punters.
Paddy Houlihan, from Glanworth, Co Cork, agreed and given his recent rub of the green, going with his gut feeling may be worth a flutter or two.
Paddy trumped a trip to Cheltenham for two in the Avondhu Point-to-Point, worth 2,500, a tidy sum and lodgings in the Marriott Inn in Bristol to boot. To round it off nicely, a car will ferry him the 40 minute trip to and from the racegrounds each day.
A veteran of Punchestown and Ballybrit in Galway, neither is he a stranger to the Cheltenham Festival.
At the check-in desk, Trevor Slattery of Slattery Travel in Fermoy, Co Cork has the appearance of an old hand when it comes to organising the annual exodus across the Irish Sea. Numbers are down slightly on last year, he says, blaming the extension of the National Hunt Festival from three days to four.
"We're not hugely down, we will have to get a few more out on scheduled flights on Wednesday, but we are less busy than previous years. Also, it's hard to tell what impact St Patrick's Day is having, it doesn't usually fall in the middle of the festival."
His clientele for this particular trip are 90% male, only eight or nine women will travel on the charter.
Upstairs in the bar, Flor Mahony, from Endsleigh, Douglas, Cork, is holding forth with family and friends. His horse, General Montcalm, trained by the famous Eddie O'Grady, will run on Friday, in the race directly after the Gold Cup. Named after the French general in Last of the Mohicans, Flor admits to part-owning the horse.
"I gave my son William two of his legs for his 21st," he says. When I ask him which two after all the forelegs are first to cross the line unless the animal is given to travelling in reverse he signs patiently and explains it's terminology for "half a horse."
Apart from his own horse, running in the Christie's Fox Hunter Chase, and which he says is a good each way bet, his money is on Back in Front, another O'Grady-trained animal. Ignore Akilak and Pizarro at your peril, is his parting shot.
Nearby, Fianna Fáil TD Noel O'Flynn is loitering, but his travels will take him further afield to sunny Spain out of the sheets of rain driving across the airstrip. It's bring-a-brolly weather, the British Met Office has warned, and you'd do well to heed the advice.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
