THE IRISH HAVE GOT IT SUSSED

Xander Brett insists the experience over the water needs to be seen to be believed

From Stansted Airport, it’s a tin can shuttle that flies you over to Ireland. An hour-long Ryanair taxi ride, laid on by Michael O’Leary, which today serves as an equine transfer, with bloodstock agents and consignors climbing aboard to make their return journey from Newmarket’s February Sale. Behind me, a small ginger-haired girl stands engrossed in the latest edition of Horse & Hound. In front of me, a tall, dark-haired woman books her mare in for a cover. My last experience of Irish racing was a few years back, at the Irish National Stud. But, unable to ignore recent noises that the Irish can teach us Brits a thing or two about staging race meetings, I’ll be stopping off in Dublin for a weekend in the capital, as I soak up the ever-growing success of the two-day Dublin Racing Festival. On day two of two, I bump into trainer Ted Walsh, wading through selfie requests on his way to television duties.

“The Dublin Racing Festival is a great innovation,” Walsh tells me, recalling the Cheltenham-esque celebration is but a few years old. “They got the best of what was at Leopardstown in January and February, and stuck the two of them together. It was a good idea, and long may it last.”

Attendance is at almost 34,600 across the weekend, with many on Sunday awaiting the Irish swansong of wonder mare Honeysuckle. “Today is all about Honeysuckle,” squeaks an excitable Jane Mangan, as I intercept her in a grandstand corridor. “Win, lose or draw, she’s going to bring the house down.” And on her way back from walking the course, I meet a similarly smiling Rachael Blackmore, who says she can’t wait to jump aboard.