WHILE the grass on the track at Leopardstown may be luscious, it doesn’t grow under the feet of chief executive Pat Keogh. He leads a team which has to oversee racing every month of the calendar year with the exception of November.

While affording very little in the way of downtime, work energy levels and enthusiasm are lifted now and again, and recent weeks have given the team much to be pleased about.

Keogh explains: “The last few weeks have been exciting and the announcement at the Longines World’s Best Horse Race Awards that the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes was the second-highest rated race in the world was a great boost for everybody.

“We have worked hard on the Longines Irish Champions Weekend and it is great to see it getting such recognition. It was wonderful that a sponsor with a great international profile like QIPCO supported us. We are all delighted that they have extended that sponsorship for another three years.”

I put it to Keogh that a similar plan might work for National Hunt racing, given that their two days of racing in January are staged a week apart. “Every year we review our programme to see what worked. There is no doubt that people like festivals, so the idea of bringing a number of big races together on one weekend is worth considering. However there are a number of factors that have to be taken into account.”

Preparations are underway for the only day of racing in Ireland that stages four Grade 1 races, and Keogh is confident it will be a success. The Irish Gold Cup will also have a new name appended to it.

“We were very fortunate to have a great sponsor like Hennessy sponsoring with us for so long. It was always going to be hard to replace them and we feel that a year break between sponsors was no harm. We are delighted to have a strong brand like Stan James on board and are very excited about the inaugural running of the Stan James Irish Gold Cup.

“It is not easy to attract new sponsors as companies have plenty of choice. We are fortunate that Irish racing is so good at the moment and this makes our job that bit easier. We have a great group of sponsors and are very grateful for their support.”

Faugheen’s defection last Sunday and less than favourable weather hit the attendance figures, but Keogh adopts a philosophical attitude. “This is an outdoor sport and you have to deal with whatever weather you get. We were sorry that Faugheen didn’t run but thankfully he is okay; that is the most important thing. I would much prefer that than he ran and injured himself.

“Even without Faugheen last Sunday there was still plenty of talent on show. At Christmas we were really lucky in that we got all the very best horses. You can’t always be that lucky.”

Keogh is always looking to build attendances. “Attracting new attendees to our sport is challenging as it is a very competitive market where the customer has plenty of choice. However we are very pleased with the progress we are making. In 2016 we attracted over 170,000 to Leopardstown, which is the highest since 2007. We have seen attendances grow each year for the last five years which is encouraging.

“We are particularly pleased that we are attracting more people in the 18 to 30 age group. If we fail to capture this audience, I really feel we are in trouble. Despite our recent good experience, we take nothing for granted.”

The Stan James Irish Gold Cup, one of four Grade 1 races on the card, will be run on Sunday, February 12th. Visit www.leopardstown.com for tickets and packages.