Prankster’s spoof races no handicap to a fun day on The Lough

The date was Sunday, February 27, 1898, the venue was Cork’s famous suburban lake at The Lough and the top prize was a second-hand bike with golden ball bearings.

But the poster for donkey and pony races which has turned up in the library of an old house turns out to have been the fruit of an elaborate prankster’s imagination.

A new set of bagpipes and 1,000 gooseberry bushes were among the other prizes that appeared to be on offer in the two-foot sheet which auctioneer Hugh McPhillips unfurled recently while clearing a house in Monkstown overlooking Cork harbour.