The last time I visited the Punchestown Festival was as a guest of Blue Square, kids ask your dad.
I have vague memories of being in a marquee in the centre of the track and I definitely remember being taken ill in a Naas Chinese restaurant later on in the evening. The waiter was panicking it was the prawn starter that I’d barely touched. Sadly, it was the lavish hospitality from earlier taking a toll on a younger, more foolhardy man.
No such dangers on Tuesday, from the sanctuary of the visitors’ press room. An away fixture this one but the same food as the home team in their more lavish setting.
On the track the home players were always going to dominate, the British raiding party weak numerically and in terms of quality too.
I walk out to watch the first and Sam Twiston-Davies stops for a chat. He has a ride on Thursday and is having a two-day recce beforehand. It’s all in the preparation.
I currently have an eye condition which means they start watering wildly at unpredictable moments. I’ve lost count of the number of people who think I’ve over-reacted to a story they’ve been telling me about a shopping expedition or kids’ sports day.
In the tented bar outside the away press dressing room a talented singer is entertaining those sheltering from the wind. For a moment she too thought she’d reduced me to floods of tears with an admittedly haunting rendition of My Heart Will Go On.
And the battle for the Irish trainers’ title still goes on. The victory of Western Fold in the Grade One Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase is a big one for Gordon Elliott.
But then normality resumes.
Because this card, this day, was always about the William Hill Champion Chase.
