Not at the races

Ireland’s woes make themselves felt in Cheltenham

The bookmaker Paddy Power summed it up: ‘Cheltenham is the best craic you can have and if you cannot look forward to it you need to have your doctor check you are still alive.’ For the Irish the Cheltenham Festival, which starts next week, is more than just another sporting event, it is one of life’s defining experiences. As John Scally put it in Them and Us, a study of Anglo-Irish rivalry: ‘When they bet on an Irish horse at Cheltenham, Irish fans are betting on national property, investing emotional as well as tangible currency.’ In 1996 Judge Esmond Smythe postponed a Dublin court hearing so that witnesses could attend Cheltenham. Any other decision, he declared, would have been ‘most unpatriotic’. The Irish church plays its part, too. Father Sean Breen, who used to offer tips from his Ballymore pulpit, was a Cheltenham fixture. He would hold services for racegoers in Gloucestershire and seek the Almighty’s blessing for the efforts of the Irish horses, although his congregation did hear him concede one year ‘I know it’s difficult for you Lord when we have so many runners.’

At Cheltenham, any horse which comes home in front with Irish money riding on it is wafted into the Cheltenham winner’s enclosure on a wave of enthusiasm. ‘The Irish are at the centre of the party,’ says Cheltenham’s managing director, Edward Gillespie. ‘They take centre stage in the pubs and clubs in town as well as at the racecourse.’

About a sixth of the 350-plus runners over the four days of the festival are trained in Ireland, but Ireland usually has more than a sixth of the winners. In 2006, there were ten Irish victories in the 26 races with an Irish-trained 1-2-3 in the Gold Cup.