RACING: St Patrick's Day used to be a landmark in Irish racing with a new Flat season bursting into action at Baldoyle.
Ever since north county Dublin lost Baldoyle, though, there has been an increasing lack of racecourse interest in making an early start and the upshot of it is that in the aftermath of all those Cheltenham thrills, punters are offered a choice between three modest-quality jumping programmes.
To the purist racing may be all about horses but this has to be one of those occasions when the equine has to give way to the human.
In this matter Limerick can claim top billing through the participation of Barry Geraghty whose total of five winners beat off the challenge not only of four-winner Richard Johnson but all his compatriots as well while the trainers with runners at Limerick include Jessica Harrington for whom Festival week 2003 has left an indelible memory.
Geraghty's mounts start off with Lord Who (2.30). This time last year he was a misplaced gamble on his bumper race debut at Naas but those who backed him down to 5 to 4 could not have guessed at just what was lurking in the undergrowth waiting to pounce. Victory and the margin that day was nine lengths went to Solerina, the most regretted absentee from the 96-six strong Irish team. Had she stayed right she would have contested the Sun Alliance Novice Hurdle and the formbook says that Michael Bowe's remarkable mare would have been very hard to beat.
Dessie Hughes and Hardy Eustace were the prime beneficiaries of Solerina's absence and Dessie has a live Limerick fancy in I'vehadit (3.30) in the Hugh McMahon Memorial Chase. He beat Intelligent into third place at Naas when scoring over this distance at Naas and Intelligent did the business in the Midlands National at Uttoxeter for the lady in form, Jessica Harrington.
Mrs Harrington's Limerick runner Floreen (4.30) is competing off bottom weight in the White Rabbit Web Centre Handicap Hurdle and her rating of 70 is evidence that you could not frame a race in which she would have the slightest chance against the rapidly improving County Hurdle winner Spirit Leader.
Floreen ran her best race so far when third at Fairyhouse behind Alphazar and he in turn gets his chance to advertise that form 70 minutes earlier at Wexford. A win off his revised handicap mark would pinpoint the possibility that the Harrington bandwagon would continue rolling along.
Alphazar who won by six lengths on that occasion steps up in distance but Wexford is not a notably severe test of stamina and he looks one of the better bets at a meeting where Ruby Walsh is the Cheltenham-winning jockey that will gild the day's racing. Mossland (2.20), Warrens Castle (2.50) and Heezapistol (4.20) have the potential to give Walsh a treble.
Tommy Carberry and his son Philip join forces in the Bass Maiden Hurdle at Down Royal and their representative Mr Murchan has an outstanding chance after his close-up second to Nobody Told Me at Naas.
Trainer Brendan Powell and jockey J P McNamara fell foul of the Ludlow stewards yesterday over the running and riding of Tarboush in the opening Teme Maiden Hurdle. The six-year-old finished third in the two-mile race but the stewards judged McNamara to be in breach of rule 158 and Powell of rule 155 concerning the schooling of horses in public.
McNamara was banned for seven days (March 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 31st and April 1st, 2nd) while Powell was fined £1,100 over the incident. Tarboush has also been suspended from running for 40 days (March 19th-April 27th).
