The sport of horse racing received a massive boost last week as the Cheltenham Festival produced a number of records, many of them particularly relevant to Ireland.
The meeting produced record attendances on each of the first three days and only failed to set a new overall best through capping the attendance on Gold Cup Day at a figure 3,000 less than last year’s 70,000 and selling out in the process.
The final winner of the 27 races was trained in Ireland thus setting a new high of 14 first place finishes for horses trained in this country.
Better still, no fewer than 20 of the winners were bred here, compared to four in France and only three in Britain.
Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh, both Irish, walked away again with the top trainer and top jockey titles respectively.
Bookmakers did say that betting turnover was solid if not record breaking but they appear to have made more profit than in previous years and this will have been a factor in preventing the rapid recycling of money for betting that would otherwise have been the case.
Around 7,000 or 15% of those attending each day travelled over from Ireland, with around the same number again being Irish living in Britain and holding onto these four days as a key touchstone with their heritage.
“It has been a fantastic four days and the racing has been of an incredible standard with all the major races featuring success for the class horses,” said Ian Renton, overseeing his first Festival as Regional Director for Jockey Club Racecourses.
“This has been matched by record attendances over the first three days, and the reduction in numbers on Friday, especially given the weather we have had, will have made the experience better for racegoers.”
“Putting frost covers down and taking them up plus moving lots of rail has been a huge tribute to the groundstaff team. We would have probably lost two or three days if there had been no covers.
The one sour note from the whole Festival, one which has dominated the sport over the weekend, was the fall and injury of popular amateur jockey JT McNamara.  He underwent surgery on a serious neck injury after a fall on Thursday and remains in an induced coma.  Further bulletins on his health are expected today.
The hope of all in the sport would be that he will join the many that gather at Punchestown from the 23rd April to see so many of last week’s stars in action again.
Read Friday’s personal reflection on the meaning of Cheltenham and how it holds such a special place in the Irish sporting Calendar.