There has always been a touch of the politically incorrect to racing. The hard drinking and macho, backslapping camaraderie. Paddy Power and the tasteless adverts. Attitudes that aggravate a certain constituency of broadsheet-reading liberals. You can see how Michael O’Leary could be attracted to the sport.
Yesterday, though, it wasn't the Ryanair boss grabbing headlines but another controversial businessman: American financier Rich Ricci who once named a horse Fatcatinthehat as a two-fingers to those sniping about his £70 million shareholding bonus from Barclays investment bank which he headed up.
The 50-year-old skipped last year’s festival in the midst of negative public criticism about the scandal-ridden institution, although he denied the media scrutiny had kept him away. “No, not all. Unfortunately I just couldn’t come.”
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Since leaving the bank (with bonuses intact) he has built a public profile as one of national hunt’s most successful owners. Vautour gave him a sensational win on Tuesday, and yesterday Ricci completed a Willie Mullins-orchestrated double with Faugheen.
'He's magic'
Of the Co Carlow-based trainer, he was effusive in his praise. "He's magic. He's brilliant. He's got a great eye for a horse. He is patient. I think that is underrated as a virtue. He is a very patient man, sometimes to my frustration and others. . . and he seems to know what each horse needs. He's just absolutely unbelievable." With those sorts of qualities would he be a good man to run a bank? "Willie can do lots of things," Ricci replied with a laugh. "I asked him one time what he would do if he wasn't going to be a trainer – he said an architect. So he's got the brains to do a lot of things. Maybe we should send him to the Ukraine."
The pair were introduced by a mutual friend, Pat O’Riordan, in 2005. Mullins warned him from the off to expect to lose lots of money. Asked whether he was now turning a profit, he shot back: “No. You are in it for the love of the game. They are expensive and very fragile things and very costly to mind. So, no, it’s not a game to be an investor in.”
Banking experience
There was another man with banking experience in the winners' enclosure for Ireland's second victory of the day. Charlie McCreevy dropped in to congratulate the connections of Sliver Concorde. "I cheered it on because it was Irish and I know [trainer] Dermot Weld. He's a Kildare man," explained the former minister for finance. "I broke even yesterday and I made a little today but I enjoy coming here – it's a holiday for me."
It’s at times like this you’d have to have some sympathy for Bertie Ahern getting harangued at Croke Park. If only he loved racing rather than the Dubs he’d have a happy retirement. Politics here is left at the gate.
Weld's Bumper winner brought the Irish tally at the festival to five, a lower return than expected. Worse news was a leg-break suffered by O'Leary's stable jockey Bryan Cooper in a fall in the Fred Winter handicap. In addition, two horses died: the Aga Khan bred Akdam and Stack The Deck, trained by Pat Fahy in Co Carlow.
Away from the racing, the Irish were making their presence felt in the best dressed ladies competition. Winner Camilla Henderson from Oxfordshire wore a hat by Cara Meehan, a Londoner whose parents are Irish. Runner-up Elaine Waterworth from Maze, Co Down, wore a green woollen dress by Michelle Hannah from Newry, Co Down. It cost £150 and was complemented by a £35 hat from Armagh's Donna Mullen.
Irish punters were on the up too, by about €4 million for the festival to date.
