The weather proved kinder to the RDS Kerrygold Horse Show yesterday and sunshine beamed down on the thousands who turned out for the most social occasion of the event, the Nations Cup.
However, the expected Irish win was not to be and the much- favoured Irish team, performing in front of the President, Mrs McAleese, only managed a third position.
The happy crowds, however, were not unduly concerned at the French victory and the stand, which had been booked out from even before the show gates opened, responded enthusiastically to the Gallic victory.
Elsewhere on the ground, anxious hacks were desperately trying to ascertain who might be sitting in the four grandstand seats booked by Ireland's super-group, U2. We still haven't found what we're looking for.
There was a large number of representatives from the diplomatic corps in Dublin, as is normal on these occasions, but the only identifiable celebrity to be seen on the grounds was Westlife's Shane Filan, whose brother was also competing in some of the riding competitions.
The Minister for Agriculture, Mr Walsh, who had earlier toured the grounds, was a guest of the RDS for the thrilling competition and he expressed delight at the fact that so many foreign visitors were on the grounds.
On Thursday, Bord Fáilte announced that it would be supporting next year's show for the first time, acknowledging the contribution it makes towards bringing in overseas visitors.
Absent from this year's show were rumours of buyers paying big prices for Irish horses. Seasoned show-goers said there were not even rumours of big money being paid by visitors for horses.
However, the Irish Horse Board was very happy to point out the amount of Irish bloodline in many of the visiting teams, which is some consolation for being hammered at home by visitors, especially when Ireland was favourite to take the Nations Cup back from the Belgians.
A number of competitions which should have been held in the main arena yesterday morning were cancelled, due to the state of the going after so much rain. Those competitions have been rescheduled for today.