IT should have been a sunny, sleepy Sunday at Gowran Park but anyone watching Racing TV coverage from the Co Kilkenny track will have heard raucous cheering from the stand after several winners last weekend.

In particular the whoops and hollers following the success of Maxux in the fillies’ maiden were bizarre, especially given that she had just beaten her odds-on stable companion.

As winning rider Mikey Sheehy attempted to return to the weighroom he was mobbed by a group of ecstatic young men, roaring as if they’d owned the Grand National winner. Even Gary O’Brien of Racing TV seemed puzzled, wondering if the fact that Maxux is owned by a Real Madrid player had anything to do with it.

Racecourse manager Eddie Scally was able to explain. “There was a group of 80 university students here from America and they were noisy all day, but in a good way. They are travelling around Ireland and knew they would be in Kilkenny for two days, so they got in touch with us and we offered them a good package. I think they backed four or five winners and then they all left on their bus.”