There was big disappointment for the Irish in the festival's opening race when Cheltenham's in-house commentator correctly pronounced the name of a horse called Ó Muircheartaigh.
We hoped it might be a fluke. But by the second hurdle, where an increasingly confident race-caller noted "he made a bit of a mess of that, Ó Muircheartaigh", it was clear the man had done his homework and would not be providing us with any cheap entertainment.
The situation quickly worsened when the first Irish banker of the festival, Sweet Wake, was buried with full honours behind an English 1-2-3. It was small consolation that we didn't have to send far for either of the figures vital to an Irish funeral - the priest and the publican - who are always in plentiful supply here. Sure enough, Cheltenham regulars Fr Eugene Everard and pub-owner Jim "The Mill" Ryan, both from north Tipperary, were among those on hand to assist in the obsequies, as the English celebrated with typical reserve.
It was a soft day in the Cotswolds, and conditions should have been ideal for Irish horses. But it was starting to look bleak when the well-fancied Accordion Étoile crashed out early in the second, which was won by a sinisterly named horse called Voy Por Ustedes (the last thing a matador says to a bull, apparently).
Tamso Doyle of Horse Racing Ireland had earlier presented the racecourse TV interviewer with a tie commemorating last year's greenwash. But suddenly, the glories of 2005 belonged to another era. Then it all changed. Half of Ireland had backed Brave Inca for the Champion Hurdle, including John O'Donoghue, who got him at 7-1 in November. And when the favourite led three other Irish horses past the finishing post, it was the cue for bedlam around the winners' enclosure. Ciarán O'Tierney, one of two south Dublin families who own the champion, was shaking afterwards from a combination of excitement and anger - the latter because he and the other connections had to battle with stewards to get into the ring, and some were locked out. But when he said the win was a "rescue mission" for the Irish, he was only half joking.
Brave Inca had been pushed into very skinny odds before the race and rumours swept Cheltenham that he had been the subject of the betting ring's first £1 million wager.
The bookmaker-most-likely, "Fearless" Freddie Williams, declined to comment, however. And when he appeared in the winners' enclosure later on, the rumoured punter, JP McManus, said: "I know nothing about it." Million-pound bet or no, it was a bad result for the turf accountants.
Among the Irish eyes not smiling were the pair belonging to Ellen Martin from Cork, who confirmed: "I did my brains on it!" It was about as bad as results got, she said, and all the worse because she saw it coming. "I knew it would win, but I had to lay it anyway. I mean, what's my job description? I'm a bookie!"
Once rescued, the Irish revelled in their freedom. The remainder of the meeting was a triumph, not least for the language movement. Dún Doire (owned by a syndicate from Dunderry, Co Meath) won the fourth race, while Native Jack led an Irish 1-2-3-4 in the fifth.
The third-placed horse here was called Buailtes and Fadas, as the race-caller's Gaeilge exam extended to grammar. Again he passed. The linguistic parity of esteem demanded that the home team win the last race, which they did, leaving at the score 3-3. There's hope yet for the Anglo-Irish Agreement.