Alex Hales on his own as Brits plot fashionably late entry to Punchestown party

What could be better than having a runner at the Punchestown festival? The racing is excellent but without the intensity or pressure to succeed that are such features of Cheltenham week, the atmosphere is as convivial as you would expect for a week of sport in Ireland and you can always hope for a nice bit of spring weather.

Visiting Brits have the additional pleasure of being on holiday, freed from the daily cares of home. The season is over, there's a flavour of 'school's out' hedonism and anything your horse might happen to win is a bonus, assuming you haven't been planning this since summer. The prize money, it need hardly be said, is well worth winning.

Put it like that and it becomes surprising there aren't British runners in every race. But there must be more to it because today's opening card features just a single, optimistic visitor: Millers Bank from the up-and-coming Banbury yard of Alex Hales, who has never previously had a runner in Ireland.