Cheltenham festival - They are under starters orders

ENGLAND invaded Ireland once and stayed for 700 years; the Irish invade England every year and come home after less than seven days.

Though the English set a fairly high bar in the plunder stakes Irish punters gallantly do their very best to redress the balance at the Cheltenham festival every March. Some years, like 2005 and 2006 when we had nine and 10 winners respectively, we come pretty close, but in reality beating the bookies comes just a very close second to beating the English horses.

The festival has been described as the best outdoor party — the indoor bits are not bad either — in these islands and represents an annual pilgrimage for thousands of Irish people.