The Dublin Racing Festival set a new attendance record over the weekend with 20,017 through the gates on Saturday and another 16,003 attending on Sunday.
The racing was of the highest class with Champions crowned from the Willie Mullins Yard in Galopin Des Champs in the the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup and State Man in the Chanele Pharma Irish Champion Hurdle while the two mile division saw another star come out in El Fabiolo the Ladbrokes Festival Chase.
The total attendance was up four per cent on last year’s record and 40 per cent on the same two days in 2022.
Doubtless the new Bank Holiday has given a lift but in many ways it is the quality of the racing and the draw for English racegoers who Leopardstown said last year made up 27 per cent of the attendance and it felt like more this time around.
The links to the Cheltenham festival in March where the travel plans are reversed were strengthened further by the presence over the weekend of the real Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The tem in their white gloves that travelled over said that on Saturday alone they had set up for well over 1,000 pictures of racegoers getting up close to the ultimate prize in jump racing.
There were influencers and celebrities scattered across the weekend and plenty from across the wider sporting spectrum.
It really is the best possible advertisement for a Day at the Races.
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