Paddy Power has indicated that the Irish public will wager €125 million on events at the Cheltenham Festival over the next four days.
This is the most important week for bookmakers to attract new or revive lapsed customers and they pull out all the stops in doing so.
Offers of money back specials and enhanced odds will be splashed across the internet and every newspaper from this morning ahead of the tapes rising on Tuesday afternoon.
One of the biggest events will pitch the emotion of a two time champion and world record winning Hurricane Fly against his younger stable mate Faugheen who stable jockey Ruby Walsh selected as his ride yesterday.
Both horses are already at Cheltenham Racecourse, part of a formidable team from the Willie Mullins stable that is perhaps the most powerful to have been gathered for the Festival from either side of the Irish Sea.
The Festival is not only about the betting. Travel companies will bring as many as 10,000 Irish fans from every corner of the country for the four days of equine action.
Closer to home pubs and clubs will be laying on special viewing on big screens to tempt those who might be able to free up a few hours in the afternoon.
Racing is a central part of Irish sporting life and never more so than over the next four days.
Each morning of the Festival Sport for Business will bring you Irish success stories from the previous day and the occasional suggestion of what you might look to cheer on up the hill, regardless of whether you have had a bet or not.
