Governor General wins with first bet at opening day of Punchestown festival
Kildare, 11 April 1923 - It was first-time lucky for the new Governor General of Ireland, Timothy M. Healy, when he won with his first-ever bet at Punchestown.
The National Hunt Festival, which opened yesterday and had a large and distinguished crowd in attendance, also saw the brilliant veteran jockey 72 year-old Mr. Harry Beasley, pilot his mount, Pride of Arms, to victory in the Maiden Plate.
The ‘grand old man’ of Irish steeplechasing was given a rousing reception on returning to the winners enclosure, cheers rang out and hats and handkerchiefs were waved in the air.
Mr. Beasley was subsequently presented to the Governor-General who confessed to having placed a winning bet on the jockey and his horse. ‘Allow me to heartily congratulate you. I won the first bet I ever made in my life on you today. I wish you many more victories of the same kind.’
Mr Harry Beasley, hero of the meeting after winning on Pride of Arras (Image: Irish Life, April 1923)
It was a day of brilliant sunshine in Punchestown and the occasion was well attended. Two special trains ran to the venue from Kingsbridge, but the vast majority of race-goers made their way to the meeting in motor cars.
Among them was the Governor General who travelled from his residence in the Phoenix Park in the company of Mr. Eamon Duggan TD, and Mrs. Duggan, as well as two aides de camps.
On arrival at Punchestown, the Governor General was met by, amongst others, Senators the Earl of Mayo and General Sir Bryan McMahon, and taken to the Viceregal Stand - which previously accommodated Lords Lieutenants - where he was subsequently joined by President W.T. Cosgrave, Professor Hayes, the speaker of the Dáil; Joseph McGrath TD, Minister for Industry and Commerce; and Daniel McCarthy TD. The Commissioner of the Civic Guards, General O’Duffy, was also in attendance.
Also present was the Irish Independent’s ‘Lady Correspondent’ who was writing this morning on how different the occasion was to her previous visit two years ago. The traffic to the race-course was, she observed, as heavy as before but ‘it was regulated by the big blue men of the Civic Guard, and they didn’t pack guns’ and not by ‘Black and Tans with rakish caps and insinuating revolvers and locking eyes.’
Despite the ongoing troubles, she noted that people breathed more easily than two years before.
As for the facilities and fashion, she writes this morning: ‘The toilettes (sic) of the ladies were a long way above any I’ve seen at a meeting since the Horse Show, and many faces I thought had deserted Ireland for places where enjoyment can go forward without interruption showed up again.’ Senator Sir Bryan McMahon had Lady Mahon with him. ‘She wore a beige suit under a fur wrap.. ’
The first white shoes and stockings of the season were also on show and some of the female race-goers braved white frocks. However, winter styles still predominated with a nod to spring in the floral trimmings on hats.
Rebel spoil sports defied. Mr Tim Healy (Governor General) and Mr Cosgrave (President) attend Punchestown races. Ireland. Pathé newsreel footage
[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]
