REPOSITIONING the Dublin Horse Show to the week before Galway means that instead of heading west in fighting fit form, I am wishing for a lengthy spa break instead. However, the magnet that is Ballybrit and its environs is a pull that cannot be resisted, and so the car is pointed for the M4 and M6.
Dublin Horse Show is a long week and, while it takes its toll, it is a great few days. My first involvement of the week is not actually at the show itself, rather it is duty as a safety steward in the arrivals area. Here the chief steward Mary Redmond runs the show with a ‘light but firm touch’ and she is surrounded by many volunteers who work tirelessly all week.
Arrivals is the first point of contact exhibitors have with the show and Mary and her team aim to make it a welcoming experience. This year I am under time constraints to work in arrivals, but I do what I can to help and enjoy meeting some of the week’s exhibitors, most – if not all – of which are readers of The Irish Field of course
I am further indebted to Mary for Galway race week accommodation and am staying, as they say, in the lap of luxury thanks to her. Before I head to Galway a couple of days in the office are necessary, writing various columns for this issue.
Tuesday is my first day at the races, and it is with a heavy heart that I, and almost everyone present on a damp and dreary evening, are there. Word came through in the early hours of the morning that John Thomas McNamara died at home, surrounded by those he loved and who loved him. His passing casts a shadow on the evening’s racing, and I am sure that connections of beaten runners are less than usually disappointed when they think of JT.
Attending the races is always a busy affair, and Galway is no different. There are no ends of opportunities to catch up with people and hear the latest goings on. In addition to meeting people I know well, it is always a particular pleasure to meet and chat with readers of The Irish Field, and I invariably use these opportunities to get feedback.
As I get myself a warming coffee and some shelter from the incessant drizzle, a voice beside enquires if I am Leo! When I assure the questioner that I am, he introduces himself as a school friend from the Patrician Academy in Mallow in the early 1970s. John O’Connell is an accountant and financial practitioner in the Co Cork town and a font of information on racing and breeding.
I am delighted to say that he is an avid reader of the paper, been going to Galway for more years than he or I would care to remember, and a delight to chat with. We recalled great racing men and women of the area and time when we were youngsters, when my late father would go racing with friends such as Jim Molony, Gerald Sheehan, Paul O’Connell and St John O’Connell. I hope to meet John more often racing in the future.
Further shelter from the rain is taken in the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners marquee, where Aiden Burns and the AIRO chairman Brian Polly feed and provide liquid sustenance (nothing stronger than coffee for me). Brian recently suffered the loss of his mother Rita and her obituary appears elsewhere in this week’s paper.
One man with a broad smile is Denis Coakley who has for many years now supplied the pony racing reports in The Irish Field. He is a busy man and one of his prime interests in life is being the number one member of the Ross Coakley fan club. Ross is his son and recently rode his first winner for Mark Johnston. That has since led to more rides and this weekend Ross is in action at Goodwood, all being well.
In spite of the rain the Aga Khan’s manager Pat Downes is all smiles as the distinctive colours of green red epaulettes and green cap are carried to victory on Eziyra and Sikandarabad. I am not a punter but on certain occasions I will have a small wager if something catches my eye. In the maiden won by Eziyra, I liked the Michael O’Callaghan-trained Dreamy Gal, but she is drawn 15. From this impossible position she is given a lovely ride by Colin Keane and I will be watching for the next time this Qatar Racing-owned filly runs.
Wednesday is not a day to be weight watching, something that I need to do and soon. Maybe Jamie Myerscough will take me on as a challenge and prove that the regime in his gyms works, even on men of a certain age!
A visit to the barbers and the famous Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop precede my first gastronomic treat of the day, brunch at The g Hotel. I am a guest of Sinead Cassidy who many will remember from her association with Naas racecourse in the past. She has roped in Ruby and Katie Walsh to talk to guests over food and I enjoy eating Eggs Benedict as I listen to Ruby and Katie talk opening and candidly about their lives.
Ruby manages to get me to stop eating when he is asked by the MC George McDonagh, the racing correspondent for Galway Bay FM, if he has plans to become a trainer in time. Ruby jocosely tells the assembled guests that he probably “neither has the manner or the humility to deal with owners”, before saying that it is a career option he will have to give some thought to in due course. Sadly, his assurance that we would only be giving the bookmakers a loan of our money if we backed Road To Riches proved to be expensive advice.
Shane O’Dwyer, Regina Byrne and Kerry Ryan are busy at the racecourse getting ready to welcome some 300 guests for lunch. The occasion is the ITBA Western Region Awards and my report on this is on page A10. My guest for the day is Paddy Dunican and we share a lively table for lunch which includes Shane and his wife Orla, Gerry and Gwen Ross, William and Barbara Flood, Maurice and Ann Moloney, Enda McClean and Fr John Naughton.
Unknown to him, Fr John is given the final award of the day and while he is thrilled with the unexpected honour, he is nonplussed by the occasion. This awards ceremony is hugely enjoyable as ever. It is a must do event but each year it is getting harder and harder to get tickets for it.
A couple of fun bets go awry until the penultimate race when Sean Jones, Ger Lyons and Colin Keane combine to win with Tony The Gent and I get my day’s wagers back. The races also receive a presidential seal of approval and racecourse chairman Peter Allen is charged with bringing President Michael D Higgins to the parade ring.
It is a measure of the President’s popularity and his affinity with people that he patiently agrees to many requests from people to be photographed on their mobile phones, having a word with each and every one of them. The informality of this is surely in contrast with how almost any other head of state would act, and is a credit to President Higgins. He even managed to have some bets himself with the day’s sponsor Tote Ireland.
As if all of this was not enough excitement for the day, there is another food feast awaiting me. Many members of the press room are treated to dinner in Martines in Quay Street, where an observant waitress wryly informed us before the meal that due to it being race week in Galway, our food would be slow in coming to the table!
Space is tight but thankfully the members of the Fourth Estate (the term is attributed to Edmund Burke who used it in a parliamentary debate in 1787 on the opening up of press reporting of the House of Commons), and photographers, are a genial bunch and being so close to each other is not a problem. Just as well so that the duck for main course was cooked beautifully and could be eaten with just a fork – using both arms and a set of cutlery was not possible.
As we dispersed and headed into the dark, there was one unanswered question on the evening. Who is Bev? (Answers please on a postcard to Barbara White in HRI).
Thursday sees me back in the office and watching Galway and Goodwood on television. It is the ultimate public relations dream come true for the racecourse and the sponsors to see Clondaw Warrior land the Guinness Galway Hurdle and the biggest pot of his career. This triumph will ensure that the meeting will feature large in the daily papers the next day.
Today will find me back for a final day’s racing at Ballybrit during this year’s festival meeting. Here’s hoping the rain stays in Spain.