Another worrying Irish Champions Festival - and races that feel like an intrusive, post-coital afterthought don't help
It seems a long time ago now but when the Irish Champions Weekend initiative launched to considerable fanfare in 2014 it sparked a 50 per cent year-on-year attendance surge at Leopardstown.
The official crowd given was 13,190 and in a column at the time I suggested the record of 17,000 who poured through the turnstiles to see Fantastic Light outpoint Galileo in 2001 had to be the next target. So much for that projection.
For the second year in a row, day one of the newly branded Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown lacked any real atmosphere, this time despite a truly epic showpiece. Officially, the attendance was given as 10,135, although it felt like a lot less than that.
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Published on inRichard Forristal
Last updated
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