Jackpot fever hit Leopardstown on Sunday with a massive ?57,648 rollover enticing Tote punters out of their slumber. The Tote has had a quiet start to the year, but brisk trade on Sunday saw the jackpot pool swell to ?171,432.
Relatively small fields for the four jackpot races gave small-stake punters a welcome opportunity to have a realistic shot at the speciality bet. Since the introduction of the Euro the cost of a jackpot unit has increased by a whopping 58% from 50p to ?1 (79p).
Going into the final leg of the jackpot almost 500 units were still alive. The hopes of the majority rested with the odds-on favourite Good Shuil, but their chances were dealt a blow when Tom Taaffe's charge made a mess of the second last.
Champagne Native, a former inmate of Taaffe's, travelled well in the hands of Paul Carberry and belied both his odds and the apparent inconvenience of running from 12LB out of the handicap to score comfortably. 19 winners of the jackpot were rewarded with a dividend of ?6,767.
Leopardstown Racecourse came in for some stick this week over its intention to switch the Saturday July 6th meeting from afternoon to evening. Representatives of the rank and file workers within the industry, in particular stable staff, are up in arms and have issued veiled threats to the Co. Dublin track.
The employees have legitimate concerns about the unsociable aspects of Saturday evening racing, but ultimately will not stop the inevitable and would be better off channelling their energies to etch out a suitable package for themselves.
Saturday evening racing may well unearth a whole new audience for horse racing, tapping into the lucrative twenty-something market. If that is the case there is no reason why everyone within the industry cannot benefit.
Thurles' growing reputation as Ireland's answer to all-weather racing was further boosted this week as the Co. Tipperary venue managed to stage racing twice within four days. The going was a 'standard' heavy on both occasions.
As a testament to the surface at Thurles several trainers took the opportunity to run their horses twice in the week. Eric McNamara won't have a bad word said about the track after his horse Keepakicker was successful on both Thursday and Sunday.
Trainer Jessica Harrington had a welcome change of luck on Thursday when her two runners, Soltero and Intelligent, both obliged at Thurles. This ended a frustrating sequence of placed runners from her stable and will no doubt encourage supporters of Moscow Flyer for the Arkle Chase at Cheltenham.
Champion Hurdle favourite Istabraq went to Leopardstown on Tuesday and was reunited with Charlie Swan for the first time since the pair gained a hard-fought victory over Bust Out at the same venue in December.
Little can be gleaned from the exercise apart from the fact that the Champion is still alive and kicking. Whether or not he is the force of old is another matter. I for one don't believe he retains the ability that enabled him land a third Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham two years ago. All good things must come to an end and sadly that time has arrived for Istabraq.
More Cheltenham hopefuls were put through their paces after racing at Leopardstown on Sunday, but again it was of little consequence to punters. For what it is worth, Florida Pearl looked superior to Alexander Banquet in their one-mile school, but I suppose he was entitled to over that trip.
Fairyhouse looks to have had the bigger picture in mind when abandoning Saturday's meeting as early as Thursday afternoon. No doubt the ground was heavy in Fairyhouse, but surely no where near as bad as at Clonmel the previous week.
Once Fairyhouse has its Easter fixture out of the way it will surely be only too happy to accommodate owners and trainers with a meaningless industry day.
