THE first St Stephen’s Day meeting staged by the new management team at Down Royal proved very successful as over 5,000 racegoers attended the fixture where there were three northern-trained winners.

“The weather wasn’t that kind in the morning so it was tremendous to have so many people coming through the gates,” said the track’s chief executive officer/manager, Emma Meehan. “It was a really nice way to round off our first year in operation.