BARBARA White, PR and events manager with Horse Racing Ireland, was part of the three-woman team responsible for coordinating the safe movement of Irish personnel to and from the Cheltenham Festival.

The plan was devised weeks before by Dr Jennifer Pugh, chief medical officer with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, and Jonathan Mullin, HRI’s director of communications and corporate affairs. They liaised with the British Horseracing Authority and Cheltenham Racecourse to draw up the protocols.

“Dr Pugh, Jennifer Walsh [IHRB] and I put the processes in place,” Barbara told The Irish Field. “It was a privilege to be there and witness such great team spirit and camaraderie from Team Ireland. The protocols were really rigorous and robust to ensure safe travel for those working at Cheltenham.”

Only the essential staff required travelled – one trainer, one trainer’s assistant, one groom per horse, and the jockeys.

The Cheltenham Festival was classified as an elite sporting event and those trainers, jockeys and stable staff travelled under the elite athlete travel protocols.

In advance of their travel, everyone had completed at least one Covid-19 test 72 hours pre-departure. Jockeys, as elite athletes, took three advance tests.

At Cheltenham everyone stayed on the racecourse and were not permitted to leave the Cheltenham site for the duration of their stay.

All Irish participants stayed in an Irish zone and did not mix with their English counterparts. There were separate entrances, stable yards, separate weigh rooms for the jockeys and separate accommodation.

Seventy-two hours before everyone left Cheltenham, they took another Covid-19 test and, on arrival home, followed the Government self-isolation/travel protocols.

“There was a huge amount of paperwork involved,” Barbara continued, “which dealt with the approximate 166 people who travelled over and started arriving over on the Saturday beforehand as Jennifer Walsh and I did, and included jockeys, trainers, stable staff and drivers.

“The two Jennifers and I were the only non-stable staff and managed and supported the whole Irish team. Dr Pugh was the daily point of contact with the BHA and Cheltenham and she updated us daily.

“At Cheltenham an ‘Irish bubble’ had been created and Cheltenham went above and beyond, really. We had fantastic facilities in the Best Mate Enclosure, and the John Turner Yard was where the Irish horses were stabled. The Best Mate Stand gave fantastic views of the racecourse and where we remained based.

“Cheltenham provided free catering – breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks all day – for the stable staff and cabins for sleeping.

“We had two daily lists to provide for Cheltenham – the total number of people on-site in the Irish bubble and the people approved to go racing (i.e., who were allowed onto the racecourse itself, such as jockeys, trainers, the trainer’s assistant and one groom per horse). This was changing on a daily basis as people came and went.

“The trainers and jockeys stayed in a hotel at the bottom of the racecourse, the Ellenborough, and Cheltenham opened an internal road and ran shuttle buses up and back to the hotel.

“Every morning there were checks in and different wrist bands issued and the health screening – temperatures taken and the questions answered.

“The lorries and boxes started to arrive on Saturday morning and Jennifer Walsh and I got up through the night – Saturday, Sunday and Monday – as they arrived and scanned them all in.”

Irish and British trainers could only see each other in the distance, and ate lunch separately, and there was no mixing between the Irish and British jockeys who had separate weigh rooms.

“It was all hands on deck,” Barbara continued. “Some trainers only had a skeleton staff, so the stable staff from all Irish yards helped each other in a great team spirit. Rolled up their sleeves.

“The stable staff did us proud, they were allowed onto the steps of the Best Mate Stand where the horses pull up, and the Irish staff clapped home every winner. Paul Townend said it to me, Rachael said it to me, ‘God it was great to get the clapping’. Nico de Boinville, who rode two winners, texted Barry Geraghty to say the Irish stable staff were clapping everyone home – it was such a buzz. I want to say the stable staff were a credit to Ireland. They were so obliging, so mannerly, so friendly and helped each other. ”

Barbara and the two Jennifers were not idle after racing either.

“We usually finished late, double checking everything, and took it in turns to stay in the cabins where the stable staff were accommodated, checking boxes coming and going all night, jockeys were arriving, checking temperatures, et cetera. We were responsible for everyone.

“The cabins were really nice, like a cabin on a ferry but bigger and en suite, with microwaves, and Cheltenham provided some really lovely gift bags.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable, really. People didn’t know what to expect and of course were a bit nervous beforehand because they couldn’t leave the site but it was just brilliant. I think special to everyone in the Irish bubble was the Paul Hennessy win (with Heaven Help Us). He captured the hearts and minds of all us. He’s so nice and he’s only got two horses in training and to have a first win at Cheltenham, it was a phenomenal feat. I don’t know how the Irish jockeys’ guard of honour for him came about but you could see what it meant to everyone.”

On Gold Cup day it was revealed that the Irish contingent would donate €25,000 to the WellChild charity.

“Jackie Mullins came up with the idea. After so much had been done by Cheltenham for staff and trainers and jockeys, she said we should do something. That was on the Thursday evening. So Ruby Walsh and David Casey and the two Jennifers and myself had a chat. We hit the phones on Friday morning and, honestly, in two hours the €25,000 was raised. I’m so proud of them all.”