Dublin Racing Festival Reflections

DUBLIN RACING FESTIVAL: Sarah Kinsella was at Leopardstown on both days, her personal reflections of the Leopardstown meeting are contained below.

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Still in its infancy, the Dublin Racing Festival in Leopardstown last weekend had everything. It was full of highs and lows but definitely more of the former. The minute you walked through the gates, the atmosphere ran through your veins as Leopardstown opened up her arms to embrace us all. There were very few faults but to be really picky, they could’ve done with more ATM machines, coffee and food vans and of course the major issue, the ground but I will leave that matter to the professionals as every track know what they are doing when it comes to watering. At least I hope so anyway.

There were Irish dancers floating around the grounds all day performing wee dances, there were DJ’s, previews, interviews, packed VIP suites and boxes, huge sponsors, celebrities and style. The place was buzzing and the great thing about it all is that the Dublin Racing Festival didn’t just concentrate on the horses, it covered everything. It had everything and as the years go by, this festival will get better and better.

We lost Special Tiara and Malinas Jack, both trained by Henry De Bromhead. It was extremely sad with Special Tiara giving us magic moments when winning the Queen Mother Chase in 2017, a horse we will never forget.

I asked my social media friends for their favourite moment from the Dublin Racing Festival with the most popular answer being Apple’s Jade (pictured). I was always jealous hearing of stories about Arkle, Dawn Run and even Frankel because I never got to see them in the flesh, so it’s great to be able to witness a mare likes Apple’s Jade. She makes you want to go racing, to travel far in the freezing cold and watch her win by twenty odd lengths at short odds, we might seem mad to most but it’s what we love.

Other popular highlights and one of my own personal best moments also, was Ruby Walsh winning the Irish Gold Cup on Bellshill and being greeted and interviewed by his lovely sister Katie on Thousand Stars, a horse who won over €1,000,000 in prize money and last raced in 2016. That brought a tear to my eye, I’m not sure about you but hats off to Leopardstown and RTE or whoever else came up with that idea, it was just poignant and touching and above all, shut those keyboard warriors up that rant and rave about Ruby purposely falling off horses!! That was some of his best riding we have seen so appreciate the talent because you won’t see another jockey as good as him for his era. He has broken bones more times than we have had hot dinners and he still churned out a double on Sunday!

Bryan Cooper was another highlight for people, winning with Quamino for Paul Nolan at 14/1. The bookies had a woeful day but as everyone says, never feel sorry for the bookmakers. At least the last result (on Saturday) wasn’t another favourite so it meant they could go home with some glimmer of hope heading into Sunday! Doubles came for Mark Walsh onboard Le Richebourg and Off You Go as well as Jack Kennedy who had a quickfire double on Commander of Fleet and Apple’s Jade.

La Bague Au Roi was another classic moment for us all, fair play to Warren Greatrex and Richard Johnson making the journey across the pond to bag a Grade One, something the Irish do so frequently in the UK so it was great to see competition coming over here. The Gold Cup was left to four runners with all the others taken out due to unsuitable ground but it still provided us with brilliant entertainment and excitement as it was an epic battle between Bellshill and Road To Respect.

In general, there were quite a few thrilling finishes and the standard of racing was out of this world. 2020, I look forward to you already as I can’t wait to experience another Dublin Racing Festival, but for now I guess Cheltenham will have to do!!

Sarah Kinsella