Punters shone as they took on the bookies in Day One of the Leopardstown Christmas Festival on Thursday.
By the first race of seven, at 12.10pm, the dreary morning drizzle had cleared and made way for a sun which played peek-a-boo over the course of the day.
Numbers were steady with the 13,266-strong crowd just topping last year at the South Dublin track.
It was a St Stephen’s Day to savour for Henry de Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore as the pair teamed up to win the two feature races.
At the winning post there were delirious scenes when The Notebook charged home to victory in the 2.20pm Racing Post Novice Chase.
The bookies took a bit of a hammering. The bookmakers’ pulled in €474.309 – that’s €110,000 down on last year, while the totes took €142,705, compared with last year’s €161,392.
Bookie Darragh Fitzpatrick said: “It all went pretty bad for me. A big price winner that I laid – Drumconnor Lad – somebody had a big bet with me at the last minute and that really took the wind out of my sails.
“Every day I go out, I think I’ll come home better but it hasn’t happened to me for a while. But tomorrow is a new day…”
Not that the revellers were thinking that far ahead.
They partied hard inside the packed Christmas Marque, where club and festival dance faves Riff Shop played til sundown.
