AT the start of 2017 I set myself a challenge to visit all the 26 Irish racecourses on the island on a raceday in the calendar year. On Wednesday, I attended the Kerry National at Listowel and this was my penultimate racecourse visit.

Some 25,000 made their way to the track on the day to see Lisa O’Neill win the feature for the second year in a row. What a boost this was for female riders and Lisa, Rachael Blackmore and others continue to show that they are up to competing with the boys. Imagine how more frequent that occurrence could be were the authorities here to follow the French example and give an allowance for gender?

One of the features for me of this nationwide trawl of the racecourses is to see the variety of track facilities and race programmes each has to offer. All of the tracks have their unique selling points. Comparisons are said to be odious, and in the case of racecourses they are futile.

How could you adequately, or fairly, compare Kilbeggan, Down Royal, Listowel, Leopardstown and the Curragh with each other? I mention these five as all staged racing over a three-day period last weekend. What the midlands track could uniquely claim was that An Taoiseach visited Kilbeggan and addressed a gathering of business leaders.

While all members of Government are keen to not reveal any details in advance, Leo Varadkar gave the strongest possible clue that betting tax would not be raised in next month’s Budget. This will evoke polar-opposite responses from the betting industry and from the wider racing community.

The former will claim that any increase will put smaller operators out of business, paving the way for greater dominance from the big players. The latter’s warnings on potential employment losses will also be mentioned. Meanwhile, the wider industry continues to make a call for a greater tax take from a sector who make a substantial amount of money from racing.

The impasse continues.