Racing Ireland

Green, who has had five winners at Downpatrick, is hopeful that Tony Dobbin will be available to ride. It would also be a first Ulster National for Dobbin who won the 1997 Grand National on Lord Gyllene and comes from Northern Ireland.

Punters flock to Essex

Michael O’Brien’s Totesport Trophy winner Essex has been the best backed horse for Cheltenham with Paddy Power and Ladbrokes during the week with both firms cutting the gelding’s Champion Hurdle price from 12-1 to 9-1 but Sean Graham and Boylesports report most money for Hardy Eustace in the same race.

Last year’s winner has been backed from 6-1 to as short as 4-1 but Harchibald is on the drift and has gone out from 100-30 to 4-1 with the Dundalk-based firm.

The best backed with Cashmans was Spot Thedifference, 4-1 favourite for the Cross Country Chase.

Power reported significant support for the gamble on eight or more Irish winners at the meeting and shortened the price from 8-1 to 7-1.

Six winners is the 7-2 favourite with Boyles while Ladbrokes are betting even money five or fewer Irish winners, and 8-11 more than five.

Wexford rumours denied

Stories on the racecourse grapevine that Wexford may be sold for building and replaced by a new course on a greenfield site have been scotched by manager Michael Murphy.

Murphy believes that confusion may have arisen because the course is building a new track, or rather an extension to the existing one, on land purchased at the New Ross end of the course. He is adamant that there is no question of the place being sold.

Starters get their timing right It has long been a standing joke that Irish races start five minutes late but that has all changed in the last few months and now almost every race begins within a minute of the official start time.

Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan says that this is deliberate policy to ensure that Irish racing gets maximum exposure on the At The Races television channel by fitting into its allotted slot.

Egan adds that the credit is due to the various clerks of the course and the starter. The former make sure that the jockeys get down to the start in plenty of time and the two officials maintain radio contact to ensure that the races start promptly without committing the cardinal sin of beginning before the off-time.

What will be interesting to see is whether this near-pinpoint accuracy can be maintained when the Flat season starts in four weeks’ time and large fields have to be loaded into the stalls.

Power team fluff lines Buddhism may have benefited from Stewart Kenny’s decision to go into semi-retirement but the Paddy Power firm have taken a hammering in the publicity stakes.

The controversial and often outspoken Kenny could always be relied upon to inject interest into the betting world but, if their latest press release is anything to go by, his successors have turned the bookmaking operation into just another boring business with commercial gobbledegook the order of the day.

Last Wednesday the appointment of Brody Sweeney as a director was greeted with this meaningless gem: “Brody has a natural empathy with the culture of Paddy Power and the personality of the brand. Continued focus on our brand attributes is key moving forward.”