The air was as crisp as a new Northern Bank £50 note when the Leopardstown December festival got under way yesterday, writes Frank McNally.
Despite a thaw, the parade ring still bore traces of Dublin's white Christmas. Conditions ensured plenty of customers for the hot beef roll stands, and for the hot whiskey counter too.
Of hot money, however, there was no sign. This was an early opportunity for anyone trying to launder cash from the Belfast bank heist. But it was business as usual for track-side bookmakers, who still displayed their "Bets in sterling paid in sterling" signs and seemed unconcerned about the risk.
"No," laughed one when asked if there was a ban on large Northern notes, "but we haven't seen them anyway."
The St Stephen's Day fixture is traditionally a bookies' benefit. Freed from the threat of having to deal with large-scale money laundering, turf accountants could concentrate on taking the once-a-year punter to the cleaners, as usual. On the other hand, the Holly and Ivy brigade was also swelled yesterday by significant numbers of more seasoned horsey men.
The gang - if you'll pardon the expression - were all there. Former taoiseach Albert Reynolds kept his tips to himself, except to advise The Irish Times that a horse called "Dev" was running in the next race (it lost its deposit). EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy was just as cautious, noting he'd "had a look" at the favourite for the big one and wasn't too confident. Junior finance minister Tom Parlon liked the second-favourite, Mariah Rollins, but admitted, "we're being very cagey".
Was the gang planning something? The governor of Mountjoy Prison, John Lonergan - another knowing punter - seemed the right man to ask. And confirming that he "wouldn't be backing horses just for the fun of it", Mr Lonergan named Mariah Rollins as his banker of the meeting.
But as if to remind us that there are no certainties in banking, the contest before the big race was won by a no-hoper, from the stable of Monaghan's leading - and perhaps only - horse-trainer, Oliver Brady. Brady is a larger-than-life figure, and delivered his now-customary rousing victory speech for to his small but growing cult of admirers. "I'm from the county of the little hills and hollows, but I can train them with the best," he declared, to cheers. A punter shouted back: "You should have told us an hour ago!"
Fortunes were more mixed in the feature race. The smart money gang got away with an undisclosed amount of cash when Mariah Rollins won. But hot favourite Like a Butterfly brought a lot of flutters down with her when pulling up, and was booed when she finally trotted past the stands.
The crowd of 16,000 bet nearly €1.75 million on the day, at the end of which the bookmakers' vaults looked as secure as ever.