Dashed Irish hopes keep bookies' eyes smiling

There were 40 shades of green in Cheltenham yesterday, and those were just the tweed hats and jackets so beloved of the English country sports set.

St Patrick's Day only deepened the prevailing colour in these parts. But on an afternoon when you couldn't turn around without experiencing a rub of the green, literally or metaphorically, the luck was again mostly with the bookies.

For the second day running, the Minister for Finance refused to be drawn on any horse's prospects as he chatted with friends in front of the grandstand. He discussed everything from the size of the crowd ("unbelievable") to the effects of global warming in Gloucestershire ("it always seems to be nice here now, although I remember when I used to have to bring galoshes").

But as for imparting inside information from the Kildare horsey set, the Minister wasn't playing ball.

"That's the whole problem - the information is no good, because there's too much of it," he said. "Everybody here thinks his horse can win."

The wisdom of Mr McCreevy's reticence was illustrated in the second race when the cruelly named Irish hope Mossy Green (make that 41 shades) fell at the penultimate fence and brought down his heavily backed compatriot, Pizarro. Another Irish raider, Rule Supreme, exploited the chaos to live up to his name at 25-1.

But his jockey's colours - green with a white "V", for victory - were the only good reason to back him, and when he entered the winners' enclosure draped with a tricolour, the welcome was motivated by patriotism rather than profit.

A scan of the shamrock-sporting hordes on the terraces revealed one winner, Anna O'Neill from Clonsilla, who had fleeced the Tote to the tune of £2 each way. Elsewhere, Irish rugby international Mick Galwey was among the many who had plunged on Pizarro. "But the crack's good - that's the main thing," he said.

Most people's Irish banker of the festival was Moscow Flyer, and as she chatted with friends and family in the parade ring before the Queen Mother Champion Chase, trainer Jessica Harrington admitted she was "nervous, very nervous".

The Flyer's main threat was England's Azertyuiop, and if it was any consolation to Jessica, Azertyuiop was nervous too.

The race caller lifted Irish hearts with the news that the English hope was "awash with sweat" at the starter's tape. But he was still sweating at the finish - as a runaway winner - unlike backers of the favourite, whose interest ended when he unseated Barry Geraghty four fences from home.

In the circumstances, it seemed a questionable decision by Henrietta Knight - trainer of Gold Cup favourite Best Mate - to wear a shamrock pin in her lapel. Her husband Terry Biddlecombe had one too, but played down suggestions that they were planning to change nationality. "Someone just gave them to us," he said.

Asked about the horse's form as it bids for history today, he grinned ruefully: "If you were to judge by results here so far, form doesn't seem to matter."

In keeping with tradition, Ireland won yesterday's last race, the festival "bumper", with a horse called Total Enjoyment. "Come on the kingdom," yelled Neil Hanly from Tralee, as the Kerry-trained (Thomas Cooper) and Kerry-ridden (Jim Culloty) horse galloped up the hill with a tenner's worth of his money on board. But the race saw yet another beaten favourite - an Irish favourite too. And for all that it was March 17th, it was mostly the bookies' eyes that were smiling.