Afternoon:
10°c
Even at the Cheltenham Festival, that tiny Irish enclave in the rolling hills of Gloucestershire, you cannot evade reality these days. This is unusual, if not unique, because the world outside tends not to exist for racing folk, the most insular sub-species known to humanity.
If a nuclear warhead detonated in Gloucester, the most dramatic reaction would be one punter saying to another, "Is it me, Padraig, or is it getting a little warm? Now what do you reckon to Ruby's in the next?"
Yesterday, the exuberance felt diminished as I ambled between paddock and betting ring, and from the Guinness Village to the tent in which Ladbrokes were kind enough to repay 0.03 per cent of what they've received from me over the past three decades with some lavish hospitality.
Other than Cheltenham there is no more electrifying an exhibition of jump racing, yet for once it was all a little flat. If the dearth of Runyonesque raucousness was partly due to the chill and ashen skies, and partly to this being the week's least glamorous card, it was mostly, to borrow from Bill Clinton, the economy, stupid.
Attendances are down, and no wonder with Ireland far closer to Iceland, financially, than a 15-letter jaunt along the alphabet. Even the Racing Post made a rare foray into current affairs. Its witty front page featured the odds-on chances for yesterday's biggest races, Voy Por Ustedes and French star Kasbah Bliss, wearing bowler hats beneath the headline "A pair of bankers we can trust?" Hah. As if.
I wouldn't go so far as to call the former, if he'll forgive the familiarity, the Fred Goodwin of National Hunt racing but this two-time Festival winner did rob favourite backers of their investments. Why he ran below par, finishing second to Imperial Commander, no one can be sure. But this was the Ryanair Chase and I'm convinced the 4-5 shot became distressed after being fined £1 by Michael O'Leary for going to the toilet in the paddock.
If this was a cracking race so was the Ladbrokes World Hurdle as Kasbah Bliss became the second "banker" to go bust. His trainer Francois Doumen was thoroughly bemused but I was not. Experience teaches us to distrust the French (at Cheltenham, that is) and I guess we should have done so.
With Kasbah Bliss a distant fourth, the remarkable Ruby Walsh scored his fifth success of the meeting as Big Buck's wore down Punchestowns in a thrilling finish and the first proper Cheltenham cheer of the day arose.
But yesterday must have just been a one-off because the roar returned this afternoon when Ruby Walsh and Kauto Star romped home.
No horse has ever regained the Gold Cup and no jockey has won seven times at one Festival. I'm overjoyed they made history even though my money was on Exotic Dancer. It's reassuring in this day and age, there is at least one banker you can still trust.
