Bookmaker Paddy Power moved to the forefront yesterday with his "Chase Day" at Leopardstown Racecourse.
Power said he was having a great day, but that strong running from the favourites was leading to the bookmakers taking "a bit of a hammering" in the early proceedings. However, he was confident an outsider winning the feature race would balance the books.
One punter not contributing to the bookies' misery was Anne Murphy from Cork city, who was quick to attribute her bad day at the races to one "unlucky charm".
"Women who go to the races should never listen to their husbands . . . I had a good first day on my own picks, but since I've gotten a little serious about it and started taking advice from himself, my luck has gone away."
One notable attendee yesterday was Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who said it "was great to have a few days off" and that he had "a very pleasant Christmas" with his daughters.
Ahern said he was not really a gambling man, but he enjoyed attending festive race meetings when he had the opportunity.
When it came to the day's action, he was keeping his cards close to his chest. As he made his way into the Leopardstown Pavilion he said: "No tips yet, I'll have to go in here now and find a few."
Ahern's presence created some suspense among punters, who wondered if the Taoiseach would have a flutter on a horse owned by Charlie Chawke and the Goat Syndicate named Forpadydeplasterer. Unfortunately, a bad start cost the horse dearly and he failed to dig himself out of second place in the final rush to the line.
Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Séamus Brennan and his son Shay, were also following yesterday's form. "As Minister for Sport it's important I take an interest in racing. I had a near winner yesterday with a horse called Hot Port, but I'm afraid he let me down at the last fence. Shay here is my tipster now and we fancy Mansony in the Chase."
The day's most exciting race was the Paddy Power Chase, which saw the Minister's tip Mansony hold off a late challenge from Nickname to win the grade one race's €65,000 top prize.
In the feature race, the Paddy Power Handicap Chase, what appeared to be a straight fight between the front-running Sound Witness and No Full was turned on its head when, out of nowhere, the 14-1 shot Newbay Prop pipped them at the post.
Leopardstown's only female bookmaker, Mary Carty from Co Meath, said it had turned out to be a good day at the track. "Things were looking bad with the favourites winning the first three, but an outsider won the feature race so it has been a good day's business."
Yesterday's attendance at Leopardstown was 16,812 and despite the late reprieve the bookies' overall yield fell on last year's figure by almost €400,000 to €2,246,713.