Privilege to meet the President and to introduce him to my colleagues

There was some good racing over the weekend but the real highlight was the visit of the President, Michael D Higgins, to the Duhallow meeting at Liscarroll.

A very large crowd turned out, there was a terrific atmosphere, and the President showed great interest in what was happening on the track. He took the trouble to meet the jockeys and he is obviously knowledgeable about point-to-pointing, dating to his days growing up in the west of Ireland. It was an honour for us to meet him and an honour for the sport to have him as our guest for the day.

I started the day with a bloodless win in the four-year-old maiden on Egality Mans, a French-bred trained by Pat Doyle for Walter Connors. We ended up finishing alone after our closest pursuer, the well-supported joint-favourite Call Me Rocco, called it a day before the last. You couldn't say he was given any sort of test, but at the same time I'm confident he's a high-quality prospect.