'Back with a bang' - Punchestown could set new record for biggest festival crowd

Unprecedented and phenomenal. That is how Punchestown chief executive Conor O'Neill has described the demand for next week's €3.1 million festival, which officials believe could draw the biggest crowd in the meeting's history.

Huge interest in the meeting comes hot on the heels of Fairyhouse's biggest Irish Grand National day crowd in at least a decade, as an official attendance of 15,097 continued the party-like atmosphere evident at last month's Cheltenham Festival.

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Fairyhouse general manger Peter Roe described the mood as one of "pure happiness" as racegoers sang before the Irish Grand National. And the feelgood mood looks set to roll on to Punchestown where all corporate hospitality options have been sold out and ticket pre-booking levels are said to be 78 per cent ahead of where they were at this stage before the 2019 festival – the last time racegoers were present at the five-day bonanza.

A single-day attendance record of 37,206 was set when Punchestown last welcomed racegoers for a festival card in May 2019, with a total of 126,840 people descending on the Kildare venue over the five days that year.

Crowds enjoy the party atmosphere on Irish Grand National day at FairyhouseCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

O'Neill told the Racing Post: "We always say it's the people that make Punchestown and we're looking forward to coming back with a bang, bringing that atmosphere. All indications are extremely positive that it's shaping up that way.

"Our pre-booking levels are well ahead – you obviously have to balance how consumer habits may have changed over the course of Covid-19 – but it's extremely positive.

"Given the current indications, we would very much envisage that setting a new attendance record could potentially happen, and that would be testament to the efforts of all our team. They have been putting their hearts and souls into planning this for virtually three years."

O'Neill, who also serves as Association of Irish Racecourses chairman, added: "We made a strategic decision last September that we'd maintain our 2020 pricing policy across the board.

"We felt this was the most important festival we'd have for the next five or ten years, and wanted to re-establish the event by getting people back. The demand is unprecedented and it's phenomenal both in terms of corporate and general admission."

Roe hailed the atmosphere at Monday's BoyleSports Irish Grand National as special, as enthusiastic racegoers belted out 'Ole Ole Ole' and 'Hey Baby' while runners lined up at the start.

Legendary rider Davy Russell was among those complimenting the crowd in a post on Twitter, while trainer Tony Mullins suggested it was one of the best atmospheres he had ever witnessed on an Irish racecourse.

"If Carlsberg did race meetings, this would have been one of them," said Roe.

"I've never stood in front of the grandstands at the Irish Grand National and heard anything like that before. To hear people singing and enjoying themselves was some experience, and a lot of credit goes to all our team here.

"It was a party-happy atmosphere, pure happiness. There was no badness in it. Throughout the enclosures across the three-day festival there was a great feel and that's what made it special.

"People had been really looking forward to getting back to the Irish Grand National for the first time since 2019. If you could bottle the atmosphere that created, you'd sell it for a lot of money."

RTE Racing commentator Richard Pugh was another to pay tribute to the crowds, posting on Twitter: "Since Cheltenham there has been a new atmosphere at racecourses and it really landed at Fairyhouse over the weekend.

"A younger and much louder crowd than I've ever heard before makes for an incredible atmosphere from my position."

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