MORE guaranteed mirth and mayhem from most of the team at Ballybrit, although it couldn’t be any gloomier for the Race Rewind segment, today featuring Ansar, which for some unknown reason comes to us from the damp depths of a narrow boiler house corridor.

Robert welcomed us to the highlight of the summer and it certainly was for Dermot Weld, celebrating his 67th birthday, although Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh weren’t presenting him with any gifts in the first.

Nobody had told Thomas Hobson, either, but as Ted carefully explained, it would have been a pointless exercise given his earplugs.

Dermot, “on the wrong side of 60 but the right side of 70” as an ever tactful Ted put it, got his present in the end and Robert reflected that it was unfortunate to always celebrate your birthday on TV, with nowhere to hide.

For once we got to see behind the cameras and who did we find there but retired jockey Coleman Sweeney, no stranger to Galway. A big thumbs up showed he was enjoying his new role manning a camera considerably bigger than he was.

INFORMATIVE

Viewers Question Time is turning out to be the most informative part of the coverage and it was no different today. Do people even know there’s a horse race meeting on?

“What’s your view of the economic crisis in Greece?” asked someone of Ted, who claimed to be struggling with his own financial crisis. “I don’t give two hoots!” he stated. Robert, it seemed, hadn’t noticed any difference when recently holidaying there.

Later on Ted gave more thought to the taxing poser that troubles us all, would you rather fight a lion-sized duck or a duck-sized lion - for Ted, it’s a duck every time. We can all sleep easier for that useful tip.

Brian Gleeson, meanwhile, had set himself the task of running round the enclosures looking for senior handicapper Noel O’Brien, who will be looking to raise him up a lump after a successful performance.

The Plate, however, is a much more compact handicap and as Noel said, “139 would get you into any handicap at the Cheltenham Festival, but wouldn’t get you a run in the Plate, which shows you how competitive it is.”

There were plenty of other guests, too, with the Tote’s CEO, Tim Higgins offering losing punters the chance to win a 10% share in a horse with Willie Mullins, as well as other spot prizes from losing ticket draws.

HRI’s CEO, Brian Kavanagh was concerned about the decrease in NH horses in training, but was happier looking forward, with the off shore betting tax due to take effect August 1st.

Two others looking forward were Robert Splaine, chef d’equipe, and show jumper Greg Broderick, joining Robert to talk of the Dublin Horse Show and Olympic qualification. Splaine assured us that he’d “spread resources carefully and cleverly.”

And staying on the theme of promises ahead, Ruby Walsh brought good news as Chairman of the Irish Injured Jockeys, when revealing the purchase of an exoskeleton bionic suit for Jonjo Bright, enabling him to stand upright and use his own body weight to walk.

Robert was then presented with his own ‘Rishi/AP Moment’ when John Cullen joined him to announce his retirement, a decision made only earlier that day.

“Enough is enough,” John declared, thanking all those who had supported him over the years. Robert recalled ‘the halo’ neck brace, but John shrugged it off in the way of these tough jump jockeys, “I have more movement in my neck after than I ever had before!” He’s now looking forward to training a few point-to-pointers on the Curragh.

In the end, though, it was Jonathan Burke who took all the honours, “a little star of the future” as Ted quite rightly said.