Gordon Elliott would love to win the Champion Hurdle - but it's the Gold Cup on his mind as huge crowds flock to open day

It was the one and only Dougal McGuire, during the hilarious episode of Father Ted featuring Eoin McLove, who famously quipped: "I'm no good at judging the size of crowds, but I'd say there's around 17 million of them out there."

It seemed like there were about 17 million who gatecrashed Gordon Elliott's open morning on a scorching Saturday as all ages entered from all angles. Okay, fair enough, that might be an exaggeration, but by my calculations the crowd was approaching 3,000. Enough to make most racecourses look on with envy anyway.

It didn't start on time, little does in Ireland, but Racing TV's Kevin O'Ryan, MC for the morning, had to hold his horses as the traffic was still streaming into the three fields across the road from Cullentra House at 10.30am. Even Minister for Justice Helen McEntee was in attendance with her husband and two kids. A very noteworthy visitor given the goings on with the Irish Gambling Regulation Bill right now and the potential of it ripping the industry into shreds.