Even the horses of Munster are on a high after Sunday's game in Lansdowne, or so it seemed when they turned day one of the National Hunt Festival into an extended lap of honour, writes Frank McNally at Punchestown
They had a point to prove, too. If Cork horse Newmill could speak, he might have complained yesterday that he hadn't received sufficient credit for winning the Champion Chase at Cheltenham, when Moscow Flyer's demise and the fall of several fancied horses distracted from his victory. Sounding just like Ronan O'Gara, he would probably have remarked that he'd "heard a lot all season about Moscow Flyer and how good he was, but I thought I'd do my talking on the racecourse".
Not even Cork horses can speak, however. So when Newmill demolished the opposition in the feature race, it was left to his human supporters to claim vindication. Clonakilty man and former minister for agriculture Joe Walsh led the charge against the "scribes" who undervalued the Cheltenham win: "They were finding excuses in the fact that others horses fell. But they fell because he [ Newmill] put them under pressure - just like Munster."
One unnamed relative of the owners - Rosscarbery couple Batty and Mary Hayes - was still bridling at the insult of the horse's Cheltenham odds: "They had no meas [respect] for him at all. I couldn't believe they made him 16-1. He should have been six-to-four-on." And even the quiet spoken trainer, John Joseph Murphy from Upton, insisted his "gifted" pupil had been underestimated.
Of course it's stretching credibility to suggest that Munster's four-legged heroes were inspired by the achievements of the two-legged ones. But suspicions that the horses and the rugby team are at least on the same diet grew when, in the next race, Missed That romped home in the red and white colours of former Cork Constitution and Ireland rugby player, Archie O'Leary. "Up Munster!" said Archie.
Getting a word in for Leinster, Carlow-based trainer Willie Mullins later talked of running Missed That in the French champion hurdle, although he added that Archie's immediate travel plans concerned Cardiff and next month's European Rugby Cup Final.
Then, no sooner had the owner left the winners' enclosure, he was back in it. This time, it was Joueur D'Estruval carrying the red shirt to victory in the €49,000 Handicap Hurdle.
Lest it be assumed that only horse owners from the posh end of Munster were winning, Limerick got a look in as well thanks to JP McManus, who landed the opening race with Abram's Bridge.
While southerners took most of the money, Dublin-owned Moscow Flyer was given an honorary prize, in the form of a lap of the parade ring to mark his retirement. There was a much sadder tribute, too. Reminding us that it's not just the horses that risk their lives in this sport, the 15,500 crowd was invited to observe a moment's silence for Dary Cullen, a 20-year-old Kildare jockey who died on Sunday after a fall in a point-to-point race in Wexford.