26 RACECOURSE CHALLENGE – Number 20

A LONG week of racing at Royal Ascot was not perhaps the best preparation for a trip to Down Royal on Saturday, but the visit was a joy from the minute I arrived.

A huge crowd turned up for a competitive day’s sport and when I met Mike Todd and Molly McCluskey in Enniskillen on Wednesday they were able to confirm my own impression – crowds were well up on last year.

Lunch in the pavilion was delicious and made all the more enjoyable by the company of part of a stag party from Glasgow (though the wedding is not until November!) and Finbarr and Mairead Cahill (their Wingingit was an honourable runner-up to Clongowes in the €100,000 Magners Ulster Derby), who were still celebrating their son’s recent marriage.

Part of the DNA of racing at Down Royal is the ebullient Pamela Ballantine and she is extremely busy on racedays, keeping racegoers informed of what is happening, while also hosting winning connections in the Jim Nicholson inspired hospitality suite beside the winners’ enclosure.