22 July 2012

"The Curragh", on the 5000 Acre Curragh Plain in County Kildare, is the home of thoroughbred racing in Ireland. All five of the Group 1 Irish Classics are run there. One of those classics is the Irish Oaks and today was Irish Oaks Day.

Parading before the big race.

Pictured is Dermond Weld, who trained Vintage Crop and Media Puzzle to Melbourne Cup victories in 1993 and 2002. He had a horse in the Oaks and Ireland's other top trainer A.P.O'Brien had three entries.

We bet against Weld and O'Brien and put our money on "Great Heavens" because it had proven heavy track form. It won and our winnings managed to negate our earlier losses. It was time to leave for Dublin.

After checking into our hotel, we headed for a drink at the famous Kehoe's pub. Despite telling them that Robyn had travelled all the way from Australia to have a drink there, they didn't offer to shout her a drink. Perhaps a sign of the recession.