WHERE were you on Sunday, August 26th, 2007? I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend an historic day for Irish racing, the opening of the first all-weather track in Ireland, at Dundalk Stadium, held in front of a packed crowd. How, in these difficult days, we yearn for more of that.

The day featured an eight-race card, all of which attracted a maximum field of 14 runners, apart from the opening event for which 13 went to post. The acting stewards on the day, Peter Reynolds, Valerie Cooper, Brian Fitzsimmons, Cahir O’Sullivan and Peter Matthews, were kept busy, issuing suspensions to Kieren Fallon, Seamie Heffernan, Pat Smullen and Willie Supple, and also giving cautions to Declan McDonogh and Kevin Manning.