Leopardstown racing: Short dresses, high heels and a ‘deadly buzz’

The star that shines brightest on the opening day of the Christmas Festival at Leopardstown is traditionally Bono – but with the U2 singer said to be tied up with "family commitments" this year it was the sun that stole the show.

Under a canopy of bright blue skies, young women in terrifyingly short dresses and young men in horrifyingly shiny three-piece suits tottered and swaggered through the turnstiles from well before midday.

Many raced towards the bars dotted around the course as if they had never seen such things before.

“Don’t do what I did last year,” one young one advised her friend as they queued to get in, “when my dad picked me up at half five and I could barely walk when I was getting into the car. He was raging. So don’t get picked up by your da.”

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Sky high heels 

There were a lot of people struggling to stay on their feet throughout the course of the day -- although it was sky high heels rather than alcohol that had many walking with the grace and co-ordination of a newborn foal.

This meeting used to be a favourite stomping ground of the political classes, but they were almost as thin on the ground this year as the rock stars.

Had it not been for the presence of Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar, who mingled good-naturedly with the crowd, the count would have been zero.

He was joined by more than 14,500 other racegoers, up almost 3,000 on last year’s number.

The opening day had been billed as a bitter duel between Willie Mullins and Michael O'Leary after the pair famously split in a row over training fees last September.

But any potential fireworks between the Mullins-trained Min and the O'Leary-owned Identity Thief fizzled out at the midway point of the Racing Post Novice Chase, when the Ryanair boss's horse failed to take off.

Identity Thief was pulled up after jumping poorly from the off – and the roars from the stands as Min romped home, guided by Ruby Walsh, was a clear indicator of its runaway favourite status.

Emer O’Brien from Rathmines was making her Leopardstown debut and she admitted to knowing nothing about horses.

“We’re just here for the craic really and it’s brilliant,” she said. “There is a deadly buzz here. I reckon the weather has made a big difference.

“We’ll stay here on till the end. And then we might pay Copper’s a visit this evening. Sure it’d be rude not to on a St Stephen’s Day right.”

Eric Raethorne, on the other hand, had no plans to head into Copper Face Jacks.

From Waterford but living in Dublin, he is a veteran of the St Stephen’s Day meeting. “I’ve been coming for years. I always come with my father-in-law and my two brothers-in-law. We have a bit of a blow out and do some male bonding – and then join the women and kids later on.”

He was having a great day’s racing. “We’ve had three out of four winners so far. I’ve got a good tip for the 2.55,” he whispered conspiratorially. “I have a few bob on Lake Takapuna at 7-1 but don’t come back to me if it doesn’t work out.”

It did work out and Lake Takapuna finished first – suggesting Raethorne’s day got better and better.

Ashley Grove from Wiltshire was racing with his mother and his fiancee Ruth Emmet.

All three were at Leopardstown for the first time. “We always used to go racing on Boxing Day but that was when we lived in England – but my mother lives in Co Laois now so we haven’t had a day like this for a good few years.”

He too had had a “a couple of pounds” on Lake Takapuna and was all smiles as the curtain came down on the first day of his first Leopardstown.

“It’s brilliant, but there are a lot of youngsters here and I have never seen so many drinking so early – and they don’t seem to have that much interest in the horses mind you.”