Even the Aer Lingus staff bringing punters to the Cheltenham Festival, the most anticipated jump racing festival of the year, were thinking only one thing. Irish horses account for 17,000 of the 25,000 equine movements every year between the three countries. “You’ll have horses not going over if a lad is stuck at the port for four hours with a horse that doesn’t settle well in a box. Bookmaker Paddy Power predicts industry-wide bets of more than €1.1 billion during the festival and Irish punters, a third of the racegoers at Cheltenham, to wager €452 million. A Cheltenham-bound Scottish emigré, who only wanted to be identified by his first name Fraser, laughed at the prospect of betting again on Brexit.

Source: The Irish Times March 12, 2019 00:22 UTC