And they’re off! Irish fans head for Cheltenham
An estimated 15,000 will cross the Irish Sea, to join a cavalry of up to 150 Irish thoroughbreds that have already been lorried to the theatre of battle, Prestbury Park racecourse.
Heavy artillery card players will bed in around poker tables at The Queens and Gold Valley hotels as pots spiral to mortgage proportions.
Fortune and misfortune will ebb and flow on and off the race course during this week of madness.
The Irish brigade will be augmented by another 10,000 who will travel from Irish homes in London, Birmingham, Coventry and other corners of the realm.
The colonisation of a few hundred acres of Gloucestershire as Ireland’s fifth green field will be complete by around 2pm tomorrow. The traditional Cheltenham roar will greet the start of the first of 18 festival races.
Tickets for the main stand cost £65 (€95) each day. But who cares when you get four All-Irelands and four Rugby Internationals all rolled into one.
Millions will be traded in the bookmakers ring and on the tote. A tidal wave of alcohol will anaesthetise the walking wounded.
All 79 rooms in The Queens have long since been snapped up. The only package on offer this week is for four nights with a room tariff of £1,360 (€2,004).
Hotel spokesperson, Carol Wright said: “The rooms have been booked from last year.” They didn’t say if breakfast was included.
Others prefer the tranquility of beautiful villages which nestle in the Cotswolds.
Locals decamp for the week to rake in handsome rentals for their homes. And to think that after the next four days a weary Irish Cheltenham brigade will have to face home and the rigours of St Patrick’s Day.
To misquote Churchill: there shall be blood, sweat and tears.
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