The Grand National is one of the reasons we have an independent State. The British officers who should have been minding Ireland for their sovereign were off enjoying themselves at Fairyhouse in 1916 when the rebels struck.
And, while they were cheering and laying their bets, Pádraig Pearse and his lot were busily occupying the GPO.
By the time word reached Fairyhouse, the rebels were well and truly entrenched, and it took nearly a week to dislodge them. The whole thing was a bad mistake on the part of those in charge.
So it is reasonable to assume that the Taoiseach was certain that no heaves, pushes or palace revolutions were likely while he was at Fairyhouse yesterday.
Some punters found it comforting to see Mr Ahern at the racetrack. After all, C.J. Haughey had described him as the "smartest of them all".
It was, Mr Ahern told reporters, "a boys' day out". A tradition he had been involved in for the past 20 years. It was also, he said, the eighth time he had presented the Grand National Cup to the winners, once as Lord Mayor of Dublin and on the other occasions as Taoiseach.
Of course, Mr Ahern had back-up. Somewhere in the huge crowd was the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, who did not give his boss any tips on the National or any other race.
In fact, Mr Ahern was one of a cast of thousands at Fairyhouse who did not back the 33/1 French-bred, British-owned, Irish-trained, Irish-ridden winner of the race, Granit D'Estruval, who received a polite but not exactly warm reception.
There was pleasure that Ferdia Murphy, who for many years was associated with the Durcan family, had trained the horse, and that the jockey, P.B. Harding, was a Castletownroche (Co Cork) lad. Not that the wheelchair-bound owner, W.J. Gott, was in any way perturbed - the former chicken farmer from the English Lake District picked up a €112,000 cheque.
It was the first smoke-free National and the Taoiseach made sure to mention that "it was marvellous to be able to address his hosts, the sponsors, Powers, without looking through a pall of smoke". Powers were delighted with their day, which delivered a few records to them with the highest attendance in years - 19,000 people - and a record take on the Tote - €688,341. The bookies handled more than €1.6 million worth of bets.