Hare-brained: Friday plan for Dublin Racing Festival 'nonsense' says Walsh

Ted Walsh has described the idea of switching the Dublin Racing Festival to a Friday start as "nonsense".

New Leopardstown chief executive Tim Husbands said on Monday that a review of the festival would include considering whether the current weekend format was worth tinkering with, suggesting the idea of a Friday-Saturday festival might be debated.

A larger Saturday crowd has become a recurring theme at the Dublin Racing Festival since its inception in 2018 and this year's attendance of 14,204 on day one was 1,934 more than Sunday's figure.

The overall attendance was a record of 26,474 and Walsh believes starting the festival on a Friday would be a big mistake.

Walsh said: "Suggesting that the Dublin Racing Festival should start on a Friday is a hare-brained idea. It's a load of nonsense.

"Traffic on the M50 any Friday from lunchtime onwards is a nightmare and getting in and out of Leopardstown would be chaotic for racegoers and hardship for those getting horses out of the place after racing."

Gordon Elliott: 'I don't really mind what they do'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

The Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer and RTE pundit added: "The Saturday-Sunday plan works fine and I'm all for leaving well enough alone. Anyway, Friday is a working day for most people and going racing on Saturdays and/or Sundays suits them."

Gordon Elliott, who won the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup with Delta Work, was not as opposed to the idea as Walsh.

He said: "I don't really mind what they do. It's a fantastic festival and it's the prize-money which makes it so good. Once the prize-money continues to be so good I don't mind which two days they run it on."

Joseph O'Brien, who won the Grade 1 Spring Juvenile Hurdle with A Wave Of The Sea, agreed with Elliott.

"I'm not really fussed which days the festival is run over," he said. "The main thing is that we have runners at it and I hope we will have plenty of horses good enough to run at it next year, whichever days it is on."

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