Smiling faces at Punchestown's return
PUNCHESTOWN, 25 April 2002: by Brian Byrne. Well, there's been a lot of happy faces at Punchestown for the past two days, with smiles even on those of people like this writer's, who didn't win anything.
Fine sunny weather makes up for everything, and having the festival back after last year's loss of the event restores to the social calendar something which has always been special to Kildare people.
The wind yesterday cooled the fashion parade somewhat, but there were still plenty of feathery hats threatening to take their owners flying in a gust. Mind you, on Tuesday, BMW importer Frank Keane said the hat stakes seemed to be losing popularity.
"I reckon there are only 10% of the amount of women wearing hats that there used to be," the long-time sponsor of the first day at Punchestown noted.
And the racing? Well, that's somebody else's department, as anyone who knows me well will appreciate. It's the few days out that counts.
Pat Dunlea from Kilcullen, with John and Beatrice Dardis from Newbridge, enjoying the Punchestown Festival race meeting.
©2002knn