The Curragh is the joke that keeps on giving - but the laughing has to stop
The bloopers reel at the Curragh already has enough content. Now the laughing simply has to stop. The Sunday of Irish Champions Weekend, the next big test for the track, has now become the biggest day in Irish racing for decades.
A parade ring not big enough for horses to parade around. An owners' lounge not big enough for owners. A grandstand which cost millions more than it was supposed to. The roof of that grandstand making a mysterious whistling noise that frightened the living daylights out of kids on Guineas weekend. A crowd of just 2,859 for the first day of the big three-day Irish Derby festival. Only 802 more to see a Group 1 the following day.
The Irish Derby on at the same time as the biggest football match of the year in County Kildare. A 33-1 winner of it who was supposed to be a pacemaker but forgot to stop. Lengthy queues to buy a pint at the main bar. Even longer queues if you needed the toilet. Not one, but two fire alarms on Pretty Polly day. The Curragh Cup delayed as the grandstand was evacuated. You couldn't make it up.
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