Frank McNally at Cheltenham:The Irish injury jinx struck again on the eve of Cheltenham. As if the loss of War of Attrition (tendon strain) and Harchibald (leg operation) wasn't bad enough, the festival also got under way without Horse Racing Ireland's glamorous PR manager, Tamso Doyle (broken ankle), who had been struck down on a skiing holiday in France.
The absence of so many of Ireland's most fancied representatives cast a shadow on the HRI's traditional pre-festival briefing. As usual, journalists attending were presented with a Baby Powers, a slice of fruitcake and a pair of lurid green socks. But even the bullish Minister for Sport, John O'Donoghue, conceded the Irish challenge might lack "strength in depth".
He needn't have worried. When a 40-1 shot won the opener in the Meath colours, it must have occurred to the thousands of Irish punters who hadn't backed it that, if anything, we had too much strength in depth.
That feeling grew when Dublin-owned horse Sublimity landed the Champion Hurdle at 16-1, sinking the English favourite - and the Irish second and third favourites - with it.
The horse's owner Bill Hennessy is the man behind Bonavox, the hearing aid firm famous for giving U2's lead singer his stage name. It's famous for something else now. But you didn't need any of Bill's products yesterday to hear the message ringing around the Cotswolds: injuries or no injuries, Irish racing was as strong as ever.
You would have had to turn your hearing aid down, however, if you watched the race beside Bill's son Robbie. Robbie helps to run the A1 pub in Artane and was joined in a raucous celebration by friends and customers.
The celebration was all the more raucous because, months ago, Robbie had backed the horse at 400-1 and 300-1.
Not content with that, he had another go at 200-1. The last bet was struck at 2am, he recalled. "I had a load of drink on me at the time and next morning, I thought: Oh my God." But he needn't have worried, either. The net result was a €50,000 win. "Excited" would not describe Robbie's state as his horse won.
It was left to trainer John Carr to strike a philosophical note. He admitted the owners had talked him out of his original plan: to leave a challenge for the big race until next year.
"Bill said the horse could be hurt or we could be dead next year," Carr recalled, after President McAleese had presented the cup. With a nod to racing's litany of injuries, he added: "Every day you have a horse like this is a bonus, because catastrophe is just around the corner."
It was not around the corner yesterday but we had to wait until the fifth race before Cheltenham resounded to the unique noise, inspired by a combination of profit and patriotism, that greets a winning Irish favourite.
Nina Carberry was completing a double on JP McManus's Heads Onthe Ground for the country's greatest horse-riding family after her brother Philip's win on Sublimity. The Carberrys' acknowledged star act - Paul - was at home, another injury victim. John O'Donoghue, who joined the welcoming party in the winner's enclosure, quipped that it was just as well the family was short-staffed "or they'd win everything".
Even here there were some mixed feelings. Of the two JP McManus-owned horses in that race, the sentimental money had been on veteran Spot The Difference. Golfer Pádraig Harrington was responsible for some of it, despite posing happily with the winner. But surely JP, a man for whom sentiment and money do not mix, had backed the right one? "No, I didn't," was all he would say.
Rather than the horses, it is Irish politicians who lack strength in depth this year.
While not at risk of injury, Ministers are vulnerable to long- distance travel in mid-March. Brian Cowen (Chicago) and Tom Parlon (Cape Town and Pretoria) are among those cruelly ruled out of Cheltenham.
Albert Reynolds, Joe Walsh and Charlie McCreevy were here as usual on the opening day but in contrast with past years, when you could have a quorum for a Cabinet meeting, the Sports Minister was again the only serving representative.
As for suggestions that his colleagues were enjoying foreign jollies at the expense of the taxpayer and the environment, he had only sympathy for them.
Representing Ireland abroad was "hard work", he said, and many would rather be at home in their constituencies "preparing for the election".
Representing Ireland in Cheltenham is definitely not hard work and it gets easier every year.
Three first-day wins, including the big race, suggest a repeat of even last year's record-breaking feats is still possible. The home team need to pull their socks up. I can lend them a pair, if they're stuck.