Frank McNally at the RDS: The Lord Mayor performed the official opening, but compared with last week's Galway Races, the first day of the Dublin Horse Show was a politician-free zone.
This is a horse show of a different colour to the one at Ballybrit, so Fianna Fáilers in particular are traditionally scarce. Which is probably just as well because Irish show jumping has enough politics of its own at the moment.
The presence here of Eddie "Boomerang" Macken, who was sacked as trainer of the Olympic team before dramatically rebounding, is a reminder of the turbulence that beset the sport this year. A clear round it definitely wasn't.
But back in charge yesterday, and sounding relaxed and happy on the eve of Athens, he was treating the debacle like an obstacle that had been negotiated in the end after a couple of embarrassing refusals.
"That's behind us," was all he would say of it.
While the Olympic horses are mostly resting this week, the Olympic riders are not. In search of a morale boost before Greece, Macken saw Cian O'Connor finish second in the Speed Stakes. And there were several clear rounds for the home team in the Sports Council Classic, even if Marion Hughes was the highest-placed Irish Olympian, coming eighth.
There's more to the horse show than horses, however. All equine life is here. And among the many trade stands at the RDS this week is one from the Irish Donkey Sanctuary in Mallow, which is apparently experiencing a huge surge in public interest currently thanks to the film Shrek II. Movie-goers will know it follows the adventures of an ogre and his side-kick, a fast-talking donkey voiced by Eddie Murphy.
But thanks to a tie-in with a soft-drinks manufacturer, the Co Cork sanctuary has been inundated with inquiries about its donkey-adoption scheme. According to the sanctuary's Frank Conway, there are now 365 donkeys in Mallow, and there is also increased public interest in fostering them.
This is a bigger commitment, Frank warns. The foster donkeys come in pairs; they need "an acre of grass, with good fences" - and none of them talk.
The animal exhibits don't stop with quadrupeds either. The County Dublin Beekeepers stand is also pulling in crowds, staffed as it is by several thousand busy workers, (all but three of them trapped behind glass in an artificial hive). One of the non-bee staff, Eamon Magee, was equally busy explaining the extraordinary organisation of the hive to fascinated members of the public.
But between queries he also found time to wax enthusiastic about Apimondia 2005, the bee-keeping equivalent of the Ryder Cup, to be held in Ireland next year.