GIVEN the mission of spreading the gospel of racing to a size of congregation more befitting to the status of the horse in this country, the appointment of Paul Dermody as commercial and marketing director of Horse Racing Ireland last September seemed positive.

After all, he had served in an identical role with Leinster Rugby for four and half years and gone into that role on the back of almost six years as sponsorship manager with the GAA – the last two and half of those combined with the role as media rights manager.