The British ambassador, Veronica Sutherland, hosted a European Race Day at Leopardstown last Sunday and came out the biggest winner of all. In the 4.30 she placed a fiver on Blue Stocking to win. It came in at 43 to one. She told friends she had chosen the horse because she was, that day, wearing blue stockings. She remarked demurely to those who congratulated her "word has spread quite rapidly".
Guests at lunch in Glencairn included the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Ministers Noel Dempsey and Joe Walsh, Government chief whip Seamus Brennan, Deputies Des O'Malley, Sean Barrett and Michael O'Kennedy, Senators Helen Keogh and Mary Henry, the Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Gerry McMahon, the Chief Justice, Liam Hamilton, several of the civil servants involved in the Northern peace talks, footballer Paul McGrath, and presenters Gay Byrne and Kathleen Watkins. Not all, however, braved the weather and went on to Leopardstown.