WE’RE nearly back to normal, hallelujah, I said. Sunny Saturday morning, flying down the motorway to Leopardstown, top-class racing, hallelujah, I said.

Yes, back to normal. But whoa. Stuck for 45 minutes after a crash on the M50 was the Monday morning reminder of a normal I did not need.

Yet, despite missing the first race – how much better to be among racegoers than the ghost track of last year.

We are back, Ger Lyons is back with a bang, Jim Bolger is back. We’re getting there.

There are still irritations. A group of owners and their trainer can chat freely outside the parade ring – step inside and it’s masks around still. For a while it feels a bit muted, have people forgotten how to talk loudly in the open?

When the St Leger from Doncaster is played on the big screen, the sound of the crowd comes through loud and clear.

The long stewards’ inquiries after the two feature races don’t help and often you are struck by the lack of communications to racegoers from the parade ring. Even as the four runners parade for the big race, you are left to watch in silence rather than have a build up.

On TV, the RTÉ cameras and crew have a good perch up in the stands overlooking the track and the betting ring and the interviews give off a vibe of people in the background enjoying being at the races again.

Brian Gleeson can barely conceal his delight to be back nabbing punters for a word again in the betting ring.

But there’s plenty of space all around and the new entrances and areas on the far side of the parade ring provide more refreshments and seating. How good it is to look down on a betting ring with people wandering through. Brian Gleeson tells on the RTÉ coverage that we have 31 pitches today. On Sean Graham’s pitch the lads are very grateful to be back after 18 months; “you can’t get this in the shops, let’s get more people back racing.”

On TV, Andy Mc catches up with Shane Foley after the Group 1 Matron, where there was obvious interference to the third Mother Earth by the winner No Speak Alexander.

Foley explained: “I could feel one coming, I probably just closed the door. I don’t think I’ll lose the race.” So it proved, while Hugh Cahill also took issue with Ryan Moore’s positioning, Foley just got a five-day ban.

Shane Foley was back again after the Group 2 Clipper Logistics Boomerang Mile when Real Appeal made it a double for Harrington yard. “He’s 10lb better here than at any other racetrack.”

The feature race lives up to its billing.

All look composed and ready for the job in the parade ring. Poetic Flare wears an extra head restraint but he looks tremendous. Three quality horses, flying up the straight, roared home from the stands.

Live from the track it’s much harder to see the drift by St Mark’s Basilica and all the drama plays out later as he returns to the enclosure and the big screen shows the front and rear angles of the interference.

If anything Poetic Flare’s run goes under the radar. It’s only the head-on angle that shows how wide the other two are away from him and he pricks an ear passing the line. In a side by side battle, he might have been harder to pass.

Ryan Moore hails his partner – “a super attitude, he’s been a pleasure to ride.” Ted Walsh will be “surprised if we see him again. What more he has to prove?” – but hopefully it’s not the last time we see the son of Siyouni, even if the Breeders’ Cup doesn’t get the Walsh enthusiam. “It’s a Mickey Mouse race round a gaff track in whatever you call it.” No surf meets turf for Ted!

Ted lands a sneaky blow on Jane too – “Who bred him? Who bred him Jane?” And we wait to find it was Robert Scarborough who has further success with Camorra in the following Group 3.

There’s a sad postscript here as the eye-catching Innisfree, who had been shouting his presence from the saddling area before the Champion Stakes, incurs a fatal injury and while everything moves on, the imposing son of Galileo and Palace is no more.

By the end of the day, the winners’ board has a rather amazing look to it, for a day like this. All home wins. The big one goes to Ballydoyle but then it’s Jessica Harrington and Shane Foley three, Ger Lyons taking four, with three of them for Colin Keane.

So the faithful 4,000 headed off to watch the 41,000 expected in Croke Park. The big race had no surprises but it was certainly worth the wait.

It’s good to be back.