ON the face it a fall of 3.8% in attendances, as revealed in the half-year report by Horse Racing Ireland this week, is disappointing, but it has to be taken in context. This is just over 20,000 less people through the turnstiles, and at least 13,000 of this was a direct result of the limit on numbers who could attend the recent Irish Derby meeting at the Curragh.

The remaining fall is largely down to Sligo being unable to fulfil its early season fixtures, though the level of support it received for last Sunday’s meeting was an indicator that they will make up for lost time for the rest of the year. Meetings are also subject to weather conditions and these are not taken into account when the year-on-year numbers are totted up.