RETIRED colonel Matt Murray from Ennis, Co Clare was the winner of our competition for a trip for two to Cheltenham and while thinking his daughter might like to jump the queue to accompany him, it was his wife Mary who hopped on the flight to the Cotswolds.

Matt wrote: “Cheltenham Wednesday 2017 was a special day as I was the lucky winner of The Irish Field ’s trip for two festival competition. It was ladies day also and my good wife and travelling companion was delighted. To add to the occasion, the sun was, as they say, “splitting the rocks”, a day borrowed from summer. The atmosphere was electric and the racing superb, a real field of dreams.