You knew it was going to be a good day when an Irish horse with a jockey called "Cash" on board won the opening race.
Kildare man Barry was not the only Cash Brave Inca was carrying, as his 7-2 favourite status demonstrated. And when he fought a neck and neck battle up the Cheltenham hill with another Irish horse, 33-1 chance War of Attrition, there was no doubting which one the punters wanted to win.
The runner-up was not without vocal support, as no horse owned by Ryanair's Michael O'Leary could be. Back in the winner's enclosure, O'Leary exulted that he'd "made a bloody fortune" betting on the no-frills runner each way. He was celebrating on the double after the lifting of tomorrow's strike threat at Dublin Airport, and added: "We backed our horse and we laid SIPTU". But O'Leary was in a minority, at least about the horse. If you weren't on Brave Inca yesterday, you must have been an Aztec.
By contrast, the bookies were cheering as well as the Irish when Hardy Eustace won a start-to-finish victory in the big one, the Champion Hurdle, kicking away up the hill from the holder and hot favourite Rooster Booster. The whole population of Carlow seemed to be in the winner's enclosure to welcome the new champion, and everyone claimed to have backed him, including Carlow-born Dublin publican Declan Doyle, who got 40-1 on the Tote. The faith in the horse had not spread far beyond Tullow, however, and the bookies' smiles were wide.
With such vaccillating fortunes, the safest place for punters was on the fence. Which is where Charlie McCreevy was firmly sitting when he emerged into the Cheltenham sunshine with his wife Noeleen, beaming broadly and declaring it "a great day for the Irish".
In keeping with his financial prudence of recent years, he claimed he'd "won nothing and lost nothing" , and he was offering no tips for the rest of the festival either.
"It's the best racing anywhere, but it's the hardest place to win," he said. "Anyway, we're only here for a holiday. I come to Cheltenham to meet friends - you meet people here you wouldn't see from one end of the year to the other."
Among the Cheltenham regulars not here this year is Ballincollig's Ellen Martin, still a rare phenomenon in the testosterone-fuelled world of on-track bookmakers. Expecting a big result in April (she's eight months pregnant), she sent a deputy to the festival this year, to maintain a presence. "She's doing Limerick tomorrow, and she's doing the dogs a few nights this week, but Cheltenham would have been a bit much in the circumstances," her stand-in said.
Despite the efforts of Brave Inca, it was a great day for the bookies too, summed up when JP McManus's Creon won the last at 50-1. But the big race was a reminder that some people risk more than money on horse-racing. When Hardy Eustace won the opening race at last year's festival, he was piloted by young Kildare jockey Kieran Kelly, later to die in a fall at Kilbeggan in August.
So amid the celebrations, there were tears. The horse's owner, Larry Byrne, paid a poignant tribute. "Conor O'Dwyer rode the race of his life, but I thought we had two jockeys out there today. Kieran was up there in the clouds looking out for us."
Then, pride in the achievement reasserted itself as a member of the Cheltenham press office asked for Larry's address. "Tullow, Co Carlow, Ireland," he said, with feeling. "Any post code?" asked the press officer. "No," said Larry, "we're a small country."