Rachael Blackmore’s history-making victory at Cheltenham on Tuesday would, in normal times, have raised the roof of the Thatch in Cloneen.
The 31-year-old, who hails from near the village of Killenaule, a short distance away in Co Tipperary, became the first woman rider to win the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham.
“The area would be known for going on the session on any excuse, and Rachael would be our excuse today,” says Mark Fitzgerald, who owns the Thatch and has worked in other local pubs, all of which remain closed this week as the Covid-19 lockdown continues.
In a region which pays tribute to its past with the Horse Country Experience museum in Fethard, and where Coolmore Stud provides much employment, the victory would have meant a lot to the community, says Fitzgerald.
In Fethard, publican Philip Butler points out that the area previously produced a Champion Hurdle winner in Winning Fair, which was trained in Killenaule. Given Blackmore’s victory, local people “really miss” the festival this week, he says.
‘Flat to the bone’
In Killenaule, Martin Hayes, of the Bit and Bridle Inn, imagines what it would be like if his doors were open on Tuesday. “Oh lord, we’d be flat to the bone.”
The sense of missing out is shared by publicans across the country.
Power’s in Tullahought, a short drive from Carrick-on-Suir in the hills of south Kilkenny, would normally be full of chat about Cheltenham, hoping for reasons to celebrate with the yard staff from Joseph O’Brien’s nearby Carriganóg stable at the end of it.
“It’s a big disappointment,” says Shane Power, who runs the pub with his brother Pat and wider family.
“Apart from hurling, it’s the big sport around here, the place is racing mad with Joseph’s yard around the corner. But with Paddy’s Day around the same week, it has to be one of our major times of the year,” he says.
Power's preview nights for the festival used to have a smattering of well-known faces from the industry, be it their illustrious neighbour, or the likes of the legendary champion jockey Pat Smullen, who died at age 43 last September following an illness.
“We’d have big nights up in the pub when there’d be Group One winners but it’s just a special week in the calendar. Some lads would be planning months ahead, getting ready for this one week and making it their holiday.”
Kicker
Anthony Morrison, chairman of Kilkenny’s Vintners’ Federation of Ireland, says “Cheltenham is the kicker for the rest of the year” and, combined with the St Patrick’s Day period, it could be “easily 20 per cent of a pub’s annual revenue”.
Morrison’s own business, Christy’s Bar in Kilkenny, has sport as its main offering and he reckons horse racing is “75 per cent” of what it has available on its 20 screens. “It won’t be for other pubs, but Cheltenham is absolutely paramount to my survival.”
Morrison is trying to make the most it, however, and this week is taken up with labouring around his home. “Lockdown hasn’t been too bad for me,” he says. “I get to be with my children a lot more. With the current climate we can’t open, I’m not going to give out about it but I know it’s hurting a lot of people I know in the industry. As it is right now, everybody’s struggling.”
