Weather fails to dampen spirits at races

A heady combination of mud and mascara, glamour, glitz, and grass filled the air at the Fairyhouse Easter Festival yesterday.

Gates opened at 11am with the first race — the tongue-twisting Fairyhouse Vets Promoting Equine Health Maiden Hurdle — kicking off just under three hours later.

But it all very nearly didn’t happen: Up to the start of the weekend, organisers feared that snow, sleet, and rain could cause the fixture to be cancelled.

Relieved general manager Peter Roe said they were looking at canceling the event for what would have been the first time in its long history.

“We were extremely worried with all the snow we had last week. It would have been disastrous if we’d had to call it off as there’s no insurance for such an event. But the weather has turned out really well and the cold on its own doesn’t put people off. They’re pouring in today.

“And the heavy ground is also very hard on the horses. We’re all delighted today, and the ground for [the] Grand National hasn’t even been raced on yet. We’ve been using a different track for the horses today.

“The course dried out really well with the strong wind, which was brilliant. We’re all very happy and there’s a very positive mood here today. We hope to draw in at least 25,000 punters over the three days of racing.”

But the bookies weren’t exactly jumping for joy, with many of them saying they only expected to break even from their day’s work, which was down on the same day last year.

Bookie Brian Keenan explained: “The first two races were odds-on — and punters don’t generally like that. Short prices just don’t suit the punter, we’ve found.”

Daragh Fitzpatrick added: “I’m definitely down on the last couple of years and it can’t be the weather today. Again, the first two races being odds-on didn’t help.”

Outsider Realt Mor won the big race of the day, the Power’s Gold Cup. Many punters had backed the horse at a price of 10/1.

At the end of the day, it was revealed that the bookies only took in €402,000, compared to €520,000 last year.

However, the tote was up 50% — taking in €298,000 compared to just €196,000 last year.

The footfall also increased by 23% yesterday, with 6,400 punters attending

While the big celebrities are expected at today’s meet, model Roz Purcell was on hand to up the glamour stakes yesterday.

Roz, 22, was judging the Easter Bonnet Contest, which had about 10 young children wearing their hats near the parade ring.

In the end the model, who was accompanied by her horse-breeder mum Cecily, chose nine-year-old twins Cian and Chloe Tobin from Skerries in north county Dublin as winners.

Earlier, a presentation was made to trainer Willie Mullins, whose horse Annie Power won the second race with the legendary Ruby Walsh in the saddle.