Leopardstown's Christmas festival broke through the 50,000 attendance mark for the first time when yesterday's crowd of 9,300 brought the four-day total to 55,000, 11,000 more than last year.

Bookmaker turnover for the four days was up over £500,000 to a total of £2,958,427, while the total tote aggregate of £1,178,194 beat the previous 1993 record of £1,058,840.