EASTER Sunday took me to Castletown-Geoghegan for the Westmeath Hunt’s meeting. Not so long ago this day was regarded as a bonus day when attendance was going to be better than on a normal Sunday.

However, now with so many other counter attractions and the ease of travel making the festive weekend an opportunity to get away for a break, there are not so many people looking for something different to do on the day. As a result the attendance at this meeting, sad to say, was probably the smallest I can remember for a spring point-to-point here.

Luckily for the hunt, as they own the land over which the races are run and have their own fences and with a permanent building, needing not to hire tentage, their overheads are very low, but it is a disturbing trend to find midlands meetings struggling to bring in paying spectators.

REMINDER

Having been mainly to Cork/Waterford and the North recently, where crowds have been good, this was quite an unpleasant reminder that our sport cannot ignore.

Though the entry was small enough, decent fields of horses of largely similar ability led to competitive racing with favourites getting turned over in most contests.

It was good to see a turnout of 12 runners in the open race for the prestigious Barbour Cup.

There was a time when this was regarded as the most important open race run in Ireland, almost the equivalent of England’s Lady Dudley Cup, and a look at the trophy will show that in the past it was won by illustrious horses, owners and riders.

Originally presented by Frank Barbour, who was master of the hunt from 1908 to 1912, it is a fine trophy. Barbour was an Englishman who had made a name for himself in his native Warwickshire with point-to-pointers. Seeing Ireland as the best place to realise his dreams he moved over some time before he took up the mastership.

He settled at Trimblestown, Co Meath where he set up his training facility and built replicas of all the most famous jumping obstacles on his land over which to train his horses.

FINE EYE

He had a fine eye for a horse, it is said, and this can be appreciated as among the horses who passed through his hands was Koko, winner of the 1926 Cheltenham Gold Cup and unlucky not to win again two years later.

He also sold Easter Hero, winner of two Gold Cups for Jock Whitney and who might well also have won a Grand National. However, Barbour was never one to hold onto a horse if a good offer was made.

In 1929 he left Ireland to return to England where he set up a new training yard at Bishops Canning in Wiltshire. But he left behind a legacy and the Barbour Cup. This year’s winner The Hard Hat may not be a Still William, a Corryvreckan or an Ah Whisht but he is still a Barbour Cup hero.