Brian O'Connor talks to Punchestown chief executive Charlie Murless about the problems of the last 18 months and his hopes for this year's festival which starts tomorrow

Not for Punchestown the drip-drip monotony of a Corrie or an Emmerdale: no, when Punchestown does soap opera, it does so with a flourish.

For the last 18 months, the place has been more Southfork than racecourse. Political in-fighting, boardroom struggles, underground bubbling of the wrong kind, they've all been there.

All that has been missing has been some toff totty hugging a blanket to her heaving, but strategically covered bosom and shouting, "bastard." However, for those who began to believe the plot was wearing a little thin, there was a late weekend scene grabber involving the famous banks course.

Over-use and poor weather now mean no picture-postcard shots of the horses jumping Ruby's Double. The upside though is that most of the rest of the unique infield is raceable.

In such situations, riding the upside is important. Just ask the Punchestown chief executive Charlie Murless.

When he says the last year and a half have been a nightmare, you don't doubt him. The same goes when he emphasises the importance of the four-day festival that begins tomorrow.

"It will be everything, completely vital. Everyone here knows they are only as good as their last festival," Murless says.

Except that last festival was two years ago.

"The nightmare began on October 9th, 2000," he remembers, the date burned into his memory. It was on that day that the mole drains on the course collapsed.

Want to know what a mole drain is? It's a cavity cut into the ground about 16 inches under the surface by a plough-like device only millimetres wide. The idea is to allow somewhere for water to go. All around the track, only a metre apart, the drains were installed.

On October 8th a jumps meeting progressed without incident. The following day a nondescript flat meeting was stopped after the first race when the ground collapsed at a couple of spots.

Six months of remedial work meant nothing when the Turf Club decided last April the track wasn't fit for racing. A facility that has had almost €25 million pumped into it in the last five years lay idle and people wanted to know why.

"The loss of the festival was the catalyst," Murless acknowledges. The course executive might be separate from the complex politics of the Punchestown board and the Kildare Hunt Club but they, like everyone else, soon had ringside seats for some serious horse-trading.

It had everything, even if for most of us the details were too complicated. Boil it down, however, and the Kildare Hunt Club had never seen such a good old-fashioned power struggle in its 239-year history.

The new player, Nick Bullman, asked for a financial review in May of last year and September's report said Punchestown would not be able to service its debts. It detailed debts of over €6.9 million.

Another report said that proper books were not being maintained and net assets were overestimated by €17 million.

In the midst of it all was a story of passports for three members of the wealthy Getty family in return for a €3.8 million investment in Punchestown. It almost over-egged the epic.

Two months ago, it even made the High Court. It was all riveting stuff for those outside the tent but those inside are relieved that a comparative calm is now in place.

Three members of Horse Racing Ireland are now on the board, Bullman is chairman and a prize fund of close to € 1.5 million is ready to be fought over this week. But the cost in stress and pressure will only be known on Friday night.

"This meeting will be everything. It is our shop window. Michael O'Leary of Ryanair, for instance, has a great job because he is in business 365 days a year. We've got four days, and we have got to get 90,000 people in here and show it off," says Murless.

There is also a financial imperative to getting the festival right.

"The finances are still acute but still there is the opportunity here to generate both racing and non-racing income. It would be a lie to say Punchestown is out of the woods but we are in a stronger position now because of the direction of the new board," Murless declares.

Understandably, morale at the track took a hammering during the bleak period when everything seemed to go wrong, including some prestige fixtures falling to the weather. Murless felt it more than most.

"As captain of the ship, I had to," he says. "There were bouts of sleepless nights. It was genuinely stressful for everyone involved and I suppose it won't stop until after the last race and everything has gone smoothly.

"But what people forget is that there is a long history of political in-fighting and intrigue at Punchestown. Historically, there have always been internal battles at different times but they have usually resulted in benefits to the place. As of today, with our new and very strong board, I'm sure it can be the same again."

Crucially, this week will be the first festival since 1996 that will have no building programme in the background. The aim to build a new grandstand with corporate boxes and an exhibition centre has been achieved.

Punchestown is unrecognisable from the rather decrepit site of the early 1990s and Murless is confident it can hold its own against the very best. "For four days we have to do things 110 per cent better than anyone else because this is a huge festival which is hugely important to racing in general.

"In the past there have been real reasons to be proud of the way we've done things here. In 1997 for instance we had to water for 27 consecutive days but we had good ground for the meeting. The following year we were nearly washed out because of the weather but we got through."

In the circumstances, only the ghoulish would wish Punchestown anything else but a low-key finale to this particular epic.