AGAINST THE ODDS:Trusting in the gifted Kildare jockey is central to Vinny's strategy as he does his homework on Pancake Tuesday for the annual battle with the bookies at the Cheltenham Festival

ON MARDI Gras or “Fat Tuesday” as it was known in the United States, it was perhaps fitting that Vinny Fitzpatrick, a man who could do with shedding a stone or two, should spend lunchtime shoving forkfuls of calorie-rich pancakes down his throat.

That the luscious combination of sugar, eggs, milk and fat were doing untold damage to his waistline and ever-hardening arteries didn’t concern him in the slightest.

For over 30 years he had indulged in the complimentary pancake-fest served up to the employees of Clontarf bus garage and he could see no earthly reason to rein back.

Reaching out for the lemon juice and syrup, he launched with gusto into his third victim, or was it his fourth? Growing up in nearby Causeway Avenue, Pancake Tuesday had always been a special day in the Fitzpatrick household.

His late mother, Bridie, God bless her soul, flipped a mean pancake and was such an astute judge of the amount of wrist required, that the pancakes would almost caress the stained kitchen roof before starting their descent to the hot pan.

Vinny and his sisters, Mary and Bernie, would always squabble over the first sizzling pancake but, long before their Ma had got to the bottom of the vast bowl of viscous batter, their gullets would be full.

Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday as his old man, Finbarr, used to insist on calling it, was named after an old English verb “shrive” which meant to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of confession or penance.

Vinny knew this because Finbarr had told him. His old man was one of religious leaning, who enjoyed his pancake like the next man for the simple reason it marked the last feast before the Lenten penance began.

If Vinny loved Pancake Tuesday as a kid, he loathed Lent. The ashes on the forehead, Mass every morning in St Gabriel’s and a slice of forlorn fish on a Friday – he could still smell the smoked haddock.

Easter Sunday couldn’t come quick enough, even if it was never explained to Vinny why Easter was at the tail-end of March one year, and the middle of April the next.

That there were 35 different Good Fridays on which the Lord Jesus had been crucified, didn’t seem right to an inquiring child’s mind.

“It’s a moveable feast son, that’s all you need to know,” snapped his father one year when Vinny had brought up the subject.

He had never dared ask for an explanation from the Christian Brothers in St Joey’s, Fairview, lest he be flailed across his flanks, or worse.

It was many years, and many moons, later he discovered that the dates of Pancake Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lent and Easter were all related to the lunar cycles – Easter was always the first Sunday after the first full moon, on or after the day of the spring equinox of March 21st.

It was a straightforward way of remembering but he could not recall it being passed on from the classroom or the pulpit. Why not? Would people have complained about Catholic Ireland using a pagan ritual as a guide for Easter? Possibly.

On a more pragmatic level, he also wondered did the ecclesiastical powers ever consider the untold damage their fiddling with the dates of Easter inflicted on the Irish Grand National meeting at Fairyhouse.

With Easter Sunday falling anytime between March 22nd and April 25th, the Irish National could be the week after Cheltenham or, worse still, the week of Punchestown.

He had long argued the need to fix the second Sunday of April as Easter and leave it at that.

Not only would Fairyhouse be spared but the schools would have even terms and snotty-nosed kids, like Vinny of 40 years ago, wouldn’t have their heads stuffed with unanswered questions.

Today was about stuffing fluffy pancakes into his capacious stomach and poring over the new-look Irish Racing Post, in particular the page carrying the ante-post odds for the Cheltenham Festival.

The great event was only four weeks away, and it was time for Vinny to engage in fiscal combat with an old foe, the bookies.

That he placed his bets in Boru Betting, a shop managed by his lovely wife, Angie, didn’t disturb Vinny one iota. After all, this was nothing personal, rather business.

Extracting a tiny notebook and red pencil, complete with sharp nib – he was a compulsive parer of pencils – Vinny jotted down his Cheltenham fancies.

He had the same routine every year and would back, in advance, a horse in the four championship races, and one or two others, in races where there was likely to be little change in the runners and riders. He also considered one other factor: Ruby Walsh.

By Vinny’s reckoning, the gifted Kildare jockey was one of the finest of all time, following a heraldic line of heroic horsemen, from Tim and Martin Molony, Aubrey Brabazon and Pat Taaffe to Tommy Carberry and Walsh’s outstanding contemporary, AP McCoy.

Vinny admired McCoy’s driven nature and aggressive style of riding but he valued Ruby’s artistry and innate racing brain higher, especially when his own money was on.

Put the two of them on similar horses and he’d back his hero Ruby to win seven times out of 10.

AP, the relentless hunter, might win more races but Ruby won more of the ones that mattered. Last Saturday at Newbury was an example; McCoy was bounced off Denman and lost while Walsh somehow stayed on board Master Minded and won.

McCoy landed the valuable handicap but Walsh booted home four winners to confirm his role as the punter’s pal on big race Saturdays – not forgetting his treble at Navan on Sunday.

When it came to Cheltenham, McCoy’s record was poor given his Festival longevity compared to Walsh, and Vinny knew who would be carrying his hard-earned euros in the Cotswolds coliseum.

After a bit, Vinny looked up. The canteen was emptying and it was almost time for a handy afternoon run on the 130. He looked down at his handiwork and puffed out his cheeks.

He’d grouped Master Minded (5/6), Big Buck’s (4/6) and Kauto Star (4/5) in a €100 treble for the Champion Chase, World Hurdle and Gold Cup, and committed €25 each-way on 16 to 1-shot Medermit in an open-looking Champion Hurdle.

He’d also pencilled in Secant Star (8/1) for the Triumph Hurdle and Sports Line (14/1) for the Arkle Trophy, both of them €25 each-way. Of the six selections, five would be ridden by one Rupert Walsh.

“Pancake Tuesday? More like Ruby Tuesday,” he chuckled, pushing back the chair and patting his outsized abdomen as he stood up.

Waddling towards the forecourt, where his chariot awaited, there was a perceptible spring in Vinny Fitzpatrick’s step.

Bets of the Week

1pt each-way Medermit in Champion Hurdle (14/1, Paddy Power)

1pt Geoff Ogilvy to win WGC World Matchplay (16/1, Stan James)

Vinny's Bismarck

2pts Lay Man United to beat Everton in Premier League (Evens, general, liability 4pts)