March madness as punters head for the races
No sooner is the credit card cleared and the bank manager calmed after Christmas than they're heading for debt and disapproval all over again.
They left a wet, cold Ireland for an icy cold British midlands when anyone with even the vaguest sense of meteorology would be heading somewhere south of the Canaries.
"The sun does nothing for me," declared one hardy annual. "I just want lady luck to shine on me."
Luck is a fickle mistress, however, and four days courting fortune in Cheltenham can cause more heartbreak than a fortnight's summer romance in Fuengirola.
Some 15,000 racing fans are believed to be travelling from the old sod to the hallowed turf this week but many more are joining them as London, Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham spill out their Irish for the occasion.
They'll join crowds of 60,000 a day at the racetrack, watch their fancied horses battle for a share of €3.6 million in prize money, and contribute to an expected €50m worth of betting slips while they're at it.
This is racing on a grand scale and judging by the warmth of the reception in the hotels and hostelries around Cheltenham that temporarily turn themselves green for the week, the largesse extends to barroom tabs too.
As for how much money is lost, one wag dealt expertly with what can be a delicate issue. "Haven't you heard the saying - in sport, it's not the winning that counts but the taking part."
The competitive instinct is everywhere though. The arrivals hall at Birmingham Airport was like a parade ring yesterday as old friends and acquaintances met up, squared up and studied each other's form.
"Jaysus, I thought you were dead," one man out of the long-server's stable pronounced as he greeted another of a similar vintage. "Not yet," came the reply, "but this week could kill me."
The hares look saner by the minute.
