READERS of The Irish Field and those who follow the paper online raised €3,500 for a good cause last weekend by supporting the virtual BoyleSports Irish Grand National.
The idea was only dreamt up a few days before Easter but, with the help of commentator Jerry Hannon and the approval of Fairyhouse Racecourse, a recording of an imaginary Irish Grand National was put together in time for Easter Monday.
Members of the public were invited to donate €5 and make a selection from a field of 30 runners and riders. By 5pm on Monday the total raised had reached €3,512 and this sum will be handed over to Feed The Heroes, an initiative which organises food deliveries to frontline medical workers who are working long hours to cope with the current health crisis.
Script
The script for the race was written by our own Mark Costello but he only went as far as the second last fence, at which point there were six horses still in contention: Death Duty, Burrows Saint, Ok Corral, Jett, The Storyteller and Milan Native.
Holed up in his Donnybrook apartment and screaming into his mobile phone, Jerry had to invent the closing stages himself. He made it a six-way photo-finish before giving the nod to Jett, followed in by Death Duty, Ok Corral and Burrows Saint.
A few online judges queried the result, noting that Jett was recently sold to Sam Waley-Cohen who would surely have ridden the horse instead of Robbie Power. Our stewards looked into it and found that the virtual SWC had been turned away at the airport and so Robbie kept the ride.
Kate Harrington is pictured with Jett, and thanks also to Emma Connolly from Noel Meade’s yard who gave the virtual race plenty of online support. We’re sorry Snow Falcon didn’t go closer!
The Irish Field had promised to send a baseball cap to anyone who selected the winner but, as only five people managed to find Jett, we’re sending caps to another 15 entrants selected at random.
Fairyhouse Racecourse will of course be staging the ‘real’ BoyleSports Irish Grand National later this year and one person looking forward to that is Michelle Bohan, who was selected from all the entrants as the winner of a VIP day for two at the big race.
Commentary
The full commentary can be found on The Irish Field’s YouTube account. Thanks to all who participated.
Baseball cap winners: David Adamson, Patrick Moran, Johnny Ross, Philip Corkery, Aoibhinn Walsh, Matthew Kehoe, Judy Maxwell, Gerard Hamill, George Tully, Jack Cantillon, Nessa McCauley, Noel Joyce, Conor Clune, Pamela Ballantine, Gareth Metcalfe, Nia Britton, Ronan Moran, Jamie Moran, Eoin Walsh and Michelle Bohan.