Under starter’s orders: heading for annual national hunt festival
THE GREENING of Cheltenham got under way yesterday when an estimated 12,000 Irish racing fans began their descent on the English spa town ahead of the National Hunt racing festival.
The Irish roar, which has become a familiar sound at Cheltenham racecourse in recent years, will be a little more subdued this year, with about 20 per cent fewer Irish punters attending the four-day meet in these straitened times.
However, Irish horses are among the favourites in almost half of the festival’s 26-race schedule. Cousin Vinny, trained by Willie Mullins from Co Carlow, is the favourite for the opening race of the festival, the William Hill Supreme Novices Hurdle, which goes to post at 1.30pm today.
In spite of the recessionary doom and gloom on both sides of the Irish Sea, bookmakers are predicting a bumper year. Punters in Ireland and Britain are expected to wager more than €660 million over the next four days.
A steady flow of festival-goers made their way through Dublin airport yesterday, boarding flights to Bristol, Liverpool, East Midlands and Birmingham.
Louise Doyle of Tully Travel, a Carlow tour operator taking 850 people to Cheltenham this year, said the early arrivals were making the most of a day at the nearby Stratford racecourse yesterday.
