IT IS billed as Ireland’s most glamorous racing day and yesterday’s Derby lived up to its name here in the Curragh where the weather was glorious, the horses were fast and the womenfolk wore just enough for them to escape arrest for indecency.
As the private helicopters dropped visitors from the sky like confetti and the sun shone, this was certainly a little oasis where the recession seemed not to have poked its cold finger.
Not even the withdrawal of the John Oxx-trained Sea of Stars from the feature race, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, where he was attempting to become the first horse since Nijinsky to complete the English 2,000 Guineas, English Derby and Irish Derby treble, impacted on the day out.
And so the day went to the Aidan O’Brien-trained Fame and Glory which was steered to victory by JP Murtagh which delivered a new record seventh win for the modest Wexfordman, known as the Master of Ballydoyle.
Aidan, one of the few men left standing in this country who wears his Pioneer pin openly, was modest in success, paying tribute to the late Vincent O’Brien who had held a record six wins up until yesterday.
He said he was also very proud of his 16-year-old son, JP, who was riding in the Derby for the first time and he said he was delighted for his boy that he took part in such a major event.
There were many tributes paid to the late Vincent O’Brien over the day, not least by John Magnier, whose wife owns the Derby winner with Derrick Smith and Michael Talbor.
Of course, the fashion was blinding. The was a huge entry for the Kildare Village Most Stylish Lady Competition which was won by Offaly woman, Carla Mooney(25) who wore a stylish cream dress.
The teacher and part-time actress had purchased the dress for €120, she said, while attending an acting course. She wore three splendid pheasant feathers in her hair and she waltzed away with the €5,000 prize.
She was not, of course, the only Offaly person on the grounds. The Taoiseach, Mr Cowen, arrived in good time to present the main prize of the day which, by the way, was worth €843,000 to the winners and had a total prize pool of €1.5 million.
He dismissed rumours of a rift between himself and his Minister for Finance Mr Lenihan, but when asked about An Bord Snip leaks, he admitted hard decisions would have to be made. He also warned reporters not to back against Kildare in the Leinster football championship.
Meanwhile, the media colour writers were given a bad tip for the day. They had been told Mel Gibson was at the races and despite searching high up and low down, he could not be uncovered anywhere. He too, it appeared, had been withdrawn.
The Army guarded all the rugby trophies, Triple Crown, Six Nations and Heineken Cup, for the day and there were a few Irish players who had not made the Lions side floating about and the Furey Brothers and Davy Arthur, provided music.
His Highness, the Aga Khan, was also there with many members of his extended royal family and well-known actor Clive Owen also graced the event.
The official attendance of 23,500 was 15 per cent down on last year. The Tote was also down at €708,627 compared with €884,016 last year, while €1.6 million was wagered with the bookmakers compared with €2.1 million last year.