WINNERS ENCLOSURE

Edwulf returning, seemingly from the jaws of death after collapsing at Cheltenham last year and receiving veterinary attention where he fell for over an hour, to win the Unibet Irish Gold Cup

Samco earning the Dublin Racing Festival plaudits with his stunning victory in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle

Footpad, Min and Supasundae all garnering praise for their Leopardstown wins

Joseph O’Brien training a brace of Grade 1 winners at Leopardstown with Tower Bridge and Edwulf

J J Selvin recording his first Grade 1 win when riding Tower Bridge

Rachel Blackmore joining her British counterparts Bryony Frost and Lizzie Kelly, with a big-race Saturday win on Patricks Park in the €75,000 Sandyford Handicap Chase – her first win over the Leopardstown fences

BHA launching a new twitter account @BHAStewards which relays reports directly from the stewards’ room

Plumpton providing the venue for Josh Moore riding a double, and a treble for trainer dad Gary – all reported on ATR by Hayley Moore

Chester increasing prize money for the Boodles May Festival meeting by £238,000 to £1.02m, including £50,000 for the new Chester Plate, a consolation race for horses failing to get into the Chester Cup – every runner at the meeting will earn at least £500

‘Banter’ between Ted Walsh and Matt Chapman on a live ATR forum previewing the second day of the Dublin Racing Festival which was all the more entertaining for those on course when, during a break but with the microphones left on, racegoers heard an even more frank exchange of opinions

Nick Luck interviewing Criquette Head-Maarek on RUK

Attendance passing the 26,000 mark for the two days of the inaugural Dublin Racing Festival against a 25,000 target – those who were there witnessed some of the finest jump racing you could wish to see

“Everything except Edwulf seems to have some sort of squeak and even he managed to dodge death at last year’s Cheltenham Festival after collapsing in the National Hunt Chase – so anything is actually possible with him” David Jennings previewing the Irish Gold Cup in the Racing Post

 STEWARDS ROOM

At The Races losing the rights to cover Irish racing from 1 January 2019 with the contract awarded to Racing UK – with Chelmsford moving to RUK to add salt to the wound

Time running out for the Press Association owned Saturday newspaper Racing Plus which has ceased publication

Faugheen failing to spark in the Irish Champion Hurdle

Queue jumpers at Leopardstown’s ticket collection desk

Lingfield increasing its on-the-day admission for midweek all-weather meetings to £21 from £20

Flooding threatening to washout the French 1000 and 2000 Guineas trials at Maisons-Lafitte in April after the River Seine burst its banks – Deauville is on standby if the track north-west of Paris fails to recover