Popularity is plummeting and crowds are collapsing - but there's a truly glorious anomaly in the west of Ireland

Patrick Mullins didn't hesitate. "It's definitely one of my favourite places to go racing," he says, when an inquiry is made about Ballinrobe. Wait, hang on a second; Google Maps tells me it's about a 450km round trip from Closutton, which means over six hours in a car. That's a strange claim for somewhere so far away.

You'd better elaborate a bit more for us, Patrick.

"There is a lot of pride taken in the place and that really shows," he says. "Every time you go, there seems to be some sort of improvement made somewhere. They have a new canteen for stable staff and the jockeys have their own one as well, which is quite unusual at Irish racecourses.