CRAIC'S GRAND BOTH SIDES OF THE WATER

Simon Nott tracks the Grand National bookies each side of the Irish Sea for his Tales from the Ring

- Simon Nott

I do love travelling over to Ireland to work in the betting ring. The only thing not so great is days like the Irish National meeting where I'm in and out in one day.

Catching the early flight from Bristol to Dublin involved a 3.30am alarm call to catch a 7am flight on April 1. Still, once I was up and on the road, the anticipation of a first trip to Fairyhouse for their biggest meeting off the year shrugged off any tiredness.

Surprisingly, unlike most other flights to Dublin when there's a big meeting, I only recognised one other racing person on the flight, which was packed. Fairyhouse isn't a bad jaunt from the airport, which is just as well as the plan was a quick getaway to get back their straight after the last.

'No problem' according to my local hosts. I was told that the course would be heaving, but not with punters, but students, who might have a punt, it was the same every year.

There were plenty of bookmakers turned out, many with their card machines at the ready, the young 'uns do love to wield their plastic when having it on. What they don't appear to do is have any inkling of what clobber to wear to the races when it promises to be cold and wet, blimey this lot were dressed for a summer ball, underdressed in the case of some of the young ladies in evidence.

Many of them were betting though so good to see.

The first heat went to the punters, Willie Mullins and Paul Townend landed the spoils with the 9/2 second favourite Implicit which just got the better of 14/1 chance Ossie's Lodge in a desperate photo. Needless to say, the runner-up literally a nod back in second would have been a better result for most of the books. Business hadn't been great though, the combination of the cold and drizzle was't an incitement to come out of the warm to have a punt. The betting shop under the stands was backed.