ON Saturday morning, I thought I was early driving into Leopardstown, a whole two hours before the first race, but was surprised and heartened to see racegoers already flocking downwards from the Sandyford Luas stop.

Later I heard that there had been a crowd of people waiting to get through the gates as soon as they opened - like they do it in Japan. Great to see it.

Perhaps this is the British influence, who provided a mammoth 38% of the total crowd over the weekend. It’s the British racing way to go early, whereas in Ireland, you’d find a significant part of the crowd are still coming in after the first - Willie Mullins can often be one of them.

You, or Willie for that matter, couldn’t afford to miss the first today, as it was Grade 1 action straight away.

I went out to the stands because you could feel a roar coming, that sort of anticipation was in the air, and sure enough it did. It wasn’t quite Cheltenham-esque but for sure the sounds from the stand are getting louder at this Festival.

The roar went louder when Paul Townend produced Predators Gold to challenge Danny Mullins and Dancing City before the last, but the latter pair surprisingly found more, which set the tone for the day for the winning jockey.

He’d win the next one, the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile on Kargese, and the next one, the Grade 1 Irish Arkle on Il Etait Temps. After a trio of Grade 1 winners 12 months ago, this really does seem like Danny’s Racing Festival.

“What did you have for breakfast this morning is what we all want to know,” asked Lydia Hislop.

“My mother put on a few eggs for me, so I’ll be back again!” said Danny.

He couldn’t win the main event, the Irish Gold Cup, by virtue of the fact he didn’t have a ride in the race. Paul Townend was probably happy enough with that.

The blockbuster rematch between Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow failed to fully ignite but enough sparks went off to make it intriguing.

There was a willful roar when Martin Brassil’s horse got up closer to the reigning champion at the business end - we all still love the underdog - but Galopin and Townend were seemingly always in control.

Humble

I found Willie quite humble afterwards, reflecting back to when he first won the race with Florida Pearl in 1999 and how he never thought he’d even have a runner, never mind 13 winners now.

He was also interesting when he said of the winner: “He has had a tremendous season now so no matter what happens down the road, we’re very happy. The next stage is the next stage but if it doesn’t happen for whatever reason we have this in the trophy cabinet.”

That felt pointed towards a certain theme and certain trainer this season. Whether it was or wasn’t, the point is well worth making and while the Dublin Racing Festival as a whole is a rather imperfect product still with regard to the champion trainer’s domination, the most important thing is he is running his horses, for all that we should expect that at the very least.

Perhaps the most well received winner of the day was Madara, one of only three British-trained horses at the meeting, but much too good for his rivals in the Ryanair Handicap Chase.

Sophie Leech runs quite an industrious operation, regularly running horses in France, and perhaps this will serve as a timely reminder to her compatriots that it can be done in Ireland, most certainly in the handicaps.

The party was just beginning as I took my leave, the marquee tent positively booming on a bonus bank holiday weekend. There was chatter of long queues for toilets and bars, which is always annoying but you’d like to think that can get ironed out. A crowd of 20,000 is a big deal for Leopardstown and perhaps we will look back at this as a breakthrough moment for the Dublin Racing Festival.