Over 10,000 students showed up in the rain at Leopardstown on Wednesday, to attend the sold out student race day event which was sponsored by Spin1038.
The event, which was the eight annual student race day run by Leopardstown, was sold out two days prior to the event taking place and “has now become one of the highest attended student events in Ireland”, a report from Leopardstown said.
The calibre of racing was low, with the majority of the horses involved novices. However, this, like the bad weather, didn’t dampen the enjoyment of the students.
“The racing is terrible but to be honest we came here for the beer and the women and the chance to dress up fancy,” Paul Boyle a DCU student said.
“I didn’t place a single bet because I have no idea about horses and I’d only lose my money,” Rachel Duke, studying business and law in UCD said.
“That’s not what coming to [student] race day is about. It’s about everyone being there in the one spot, dressed to the nines and having a bit of craic,” she continued.
Not all of the students at the event were as impartial to the racing however. One student, Darragh Bellanova, pictured below, said, “why come to the races if you’re not going to bet. The horses are easy today, I’m up a lot. It’s days like this that make me love Ireland”.
Darragh was one of the lucky ones to beat the bookies. According to Sean Gratham, a bookmaker, “it was a day for the bookies.”
“I was a bit worried coming here, but the form was messed up by the weather. The idea is, the worse the conditions the better for the bookie”, he said.
It wasn’t only on the paddock where a victory could be achieved. Two students, Thomas O’Brien and Florence Sherry, both from Dublin, scooped up the prizes of best dressed male and female and the €500 in vouchers that came with it.
“It was an unbelievable day to be in Leopardstown, rain and all,” said Ben Egan a UCD student.
