Laytown Horse Races

The only horse race in the world run on a beach under Jockey club rules is run every year a few miles north of Dublin.

As the tide recedes the start and finishing rails are hammered into the wet sand. As the gates open the punters flood in. Bookies set up their stalls and business is brisk. The races are simply out and return across the open beach. The races lengths are rather casually estimated but are generally between one and two miles.

It is a quintesentially Irish event, and great craich...

I was covering it for The Sunday Telegraph.