Hugely successful Punchestown Festival The total attendance and betting figures for the four-day National Hunt Festival meeting at Punchestown make very good reading for the Co. Kildare track.An aggregate of 77,482 racegoers passed through the turnstiles over the week, an increase of 4,121 on 2004. The Friday attendance of 25,092 was by far the best of the Festival, showing a rise of nearly 4,000 on the previous year.The ´Celtic Tiger´ appears to be alive and well as the betting numbers were even more impressive. The course record of over 2.8 million bet with the bookmakers on day two lasted just 24 hours as that was eclipsed on Thursday by a new record of 3,042,321.A total of 10,420,464 was turned over in the ring in the four days, a massive increase of 1,882,432 on the corresponding figure last year. The Tote also recorded a new course record on Wednesday of 1,165,774, and the total Festival betting on the machines of 4,039,056 was up 366,744 on 2004. Alan Magee
