The impressive façade (1863) of the Davenport Hotel
The Davenport is well placed just a few yards from Merrion
Square. Rooms were spacious and breakfast was excellent.
My only negative was
the lack of free wi-fi which is a problem for someone who has an Ipad
permanently attached to his left arm. However the café over the road had a free
wi-fi service so all was not lost.
We had a tight schedule for the Gowran Park expedition. Heuston
Station, as you may know, is about three miles from the centre of Dublin.
Being
relatively fit (old) men we decided to walk in order to catch the 11:10 to
Kilkenny. The train takes 92 minutes so we had around 18 minutes to locate the
1.00 pm free shuttle bus to the races. It turned out the bus departs from
Castle Gate one hour before racing and this is about 15 minutes walk from the
railway station. The last time I was on a race bus in Ireland it was full of
old men (like me) but most of Saturday’s racegoers were under 30 which was nice
to see.
The track was not busy. Fifteen euro gave you access to all
areas. The seven-race card started with two maiden hurdles and I got involved
taking on the short-priced favourites. Both absolutely trotted up. The rest of
the card was kinder to me. There were untouchable winners in the fourth and
sixth (at 50/1 and 20/1 respectively) but in the other races I did pretty well.
From a couple of selections in both the third and fifth I found Ghahreer 7/1
(8.70 tote) and Pontiac 13/2 (10.50).
RM Power with Pontiac. Jessica Harrington looks on
In the
last I played up some winnings by taking on the two market leaders in the
bumper. Often a good strategy. I went for Hidden Lite third favourite @ 9/2
which returned 7.40 on the tote. Rather like Pontiac it led all the way for an
emphatic victory with the talkers both tailed off.
Hidden Lite with the
delighted connections
It had
been a good day's punting.
And so began the long trek back to Dublin. A pint or two of
course in one of Kilkenny’s many pubs and then another in the Brazen Head once
back in Dublin. Sunday was a day very much courtesy of Tote Ireland. We had been
given complimentary places for a morning guided tour of Kildangan Stud, owned
by Sheikh Mohammed and situated just a few miles from the Curragh. In the
afternoon we had free entry to the Curragh because we were Tote Account
members. Once again if you are going racing in Ireland I strongly recommend
that you open a Tote Account with Tote Ireland and then join their “Go Racing Club”
which is free of charge. There are racing offers most weekends.
We had an
earlier start, having had to meet the Tote coach at 10:30 at the Curragh to be taken
to the Stud. So this meant the 09:10 train at Heuston which was really the
08:10 as the clocks had gone back! About 50 account holders took part in the
guided tour. We were shown around the huge estate by the Managing Director Joe
Osborne.
The powerfully built Shamardal gives us the eye
Looking the part after just three days on the planet
As for racing at the Curragh this proved far more difficult than
Gowran Park. I did manage a winning wager on Redoutable in the 30-runner
(second race) maiden. This popped up at 9/1 (but tote paid me 13.20). Apart
from that it was tough going, not least in the feature race the Irish Lincoln.
I picked three against the enormous field and they all ran well finishing
second, third and fourth. Shamardal had the last laugh – he sired the
impressive 3/1 favourite winner, the Aga Khan’s Sharestan.
Losses at the Curragh made a large dent in Saturday’s haul but
overall it had been a profitable two days’ racing.
After racing Aidan O'Brien galloped 40 of his string on the
racecourse - yes 40! This included the current Derby favourite Camelot who was
not extended in his gentle exercise.
Joseph O’Brien astride the
valuable Camelot
On Monday we had time to take in the
National Gallery, situated just across the road from the hotel. I like to drop
in here occasionally to look at their Jack Yeats’ portfolio. There were only
five on show - which was disappointing - perhaps the remainder were out on
loan.
We also had a look at one of the
gallery’s most famous paintings: Caravaggio’s "The Taking of Christ”. We
listened in amazement and great interest as a young art teacher described the
painting in tremendous detail to her class of ten-year-olds. By their responses
we could tell they clearly understood what was being communicated. I’ve been to
many art galleries in England and have never heard such fine teaching at this
level.
That’s
Caravaggio far right holding the lantern
April 2012
Link to additional photographs on Facebook: Mike Q on Facebook |