Ruby Walsh: Has the Curragh given up on making Derby weekend an event?

The overriding success of Royal Ascot as a race meeting and an event has shown every other festival, carnival, and major meeting that the game is not up.

AND THEY'RE OFF: Race horses in training pass a group of caravans and camper vans pictured on the Curragh on Friday. Pic: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin.

There is very little future in the past. Dreaming about the glory days of the Irish Derby when Budweiser was the title sponsor and the traffic onto the Curragh plains trailed for miles toward Newbridge and Monasterevin is gone.

The old enclosure is confined to history as well, and the great white elephant that now stands as a beautiful backdrop for travellers on the M7 is what we have.