Roscommon senator Terry Leyden told the Sunday Tribune, "I'm running for Cathaoirleach of the Seanad at the moment so the races are a great chance for me to get out and meet people. Even though the tent at the races is great fun and a great fundraiser for the party, I want to point out that I am out of the tent among the people."

'The tent', of course, is the infamous Fianna Fail tent. Amid the ongoing criticism he annually faces about his moneymaking marquee, Bertie Ahern last year defended it, saying: "There are hardworking tradesmen and clerical workers in there."

The sad news for the Taoiseach's friends is that more money was probably spent on fake tan for Thursday's Ladies' Day than the Soldiers of Destiny could ever drum up. Maybe the builders should ditch the cement and start concocting the stuff that women plaster over themselves for the Ballybrit festival.

Ahern only stayed around on Tuesday and Wednesday before heading off on his summer holidays to Parknasilla in Kerry on Thursday. And while politics was top of the agenda on Terry Leyden's racecard all week, another man was probably happy to use the races as a way of forgetting about public life. Tom Parlon stood in pensive mood on Wednesday as he studied the form without anyone bothering him.

Ministers Noel Dempsey, Mary Coughlan, Conor Lenihan and Fianna Fail chief whip Tom Kitt were among the other dignitaries in the Fianna Fail tent last week, while Arsenal football legend Martin Keown was spotted chatting to Longford showband legend and former taoiseach Albert Reynolds at the races on Wednesday.

But there was another tent where punters queued in their droves to get in . . . and all indications are that it is here to stay. While 7,000 people packed into the new 22m Killanin Stand each day last week, one of the surprise attractions at this year's races was the new Sunderland FC tent, erected on the back of Keano and Big Niall's wave of support.

"We are amazed at the Irish interest in Sunderland . . . the number who have visited this tent during the races is definitely in the tens of thousands, " said David Mitchell, a sales executive from the club in England's industrial northwest.

"Due to Niall Quinn's popularity and Irish people worshipping Roy Keane, we decided to set up a tent to coincide with our pre-season tour of Ireland. We just want to make more people aware that we exist and that we want more Irish people to fly over and support us in the Premiership this season. While most Irish people support Liverpool or Man United, they seem to support Sunderland as their second team."

Fans lined up to meet Quinn, sign up as members of the club and have their picture taken with the coveted Coca-Cola Championship trophy. And Irish coach company Marathon Travel was there selling seats for buses to Sunderland which offer fans a night in Newcastle and tickets to see Keano's army.

Even the jockeys could not avoid the football as they played a charity match against the men who have made the most money out of them . . . the bookies . . . in Galway United's Terryland Park last night.

The racecourse, meanwhile, was like a nest of giant hornets this past week as a constant stream of helicopters flew in and out of Ballybrit. As many of the nouveau riche forked out 350 for a return trip from Galway city, others queued to get into the Champagne Tent for some Moet.

Thursday hosted the annual 'Lovely Girls' competition and the Anthony Ryan marquee was awash with beautiful ladies ahead of the announcement that Navan woman Sinead Donnelly was 'The Loveliest Of Them All' . . . or 'Best Dressed Person'' as it is officially called.

Back in the city and the crowds spilled out onto Shop Street and Quay Street with everyone clutching plastic glasses. To a stranger, the punters on the narrow medieval streets resembled the crowds on the streets of Pamplona last month ahead of the annual Bull Run.

And a walk down the same streets at 2am on Friday morning would make you think the bulls had indeed arrived, as the place was strewn with broken plastic glasses and drunks trying to decide which Supermacs outlet had the shorter queue. Earlier in the evening, hundreds of people had queued . . . some for over an hour . . . to get into the Radisson hotel for the postrace party.

It wasn't all good news. The race committee believe the poor morning weather caused the low attendance on Wednesday, when there were just 25,000 people at the races to see Sir Frederick winning the Galway Plate. A 45,000-strong crowd on Thursday was short of the expected 50,000 crowd.

On Galway Bay FM's Keith Finnegan Show, it was reported that a number of local massage parlours had rung the station complaining they were getting calls from drunken men who were mixing up their services with something completely different.

But there was no mistaking what service one company was offering on the business cards it was handing out to all males at the main entrance to Ballybrit on Wednesday.

The cards . . . with a cartoon showing a woman in knee-high red boots, fishnet tights and brandishing a whip . . . asked punters to log onto www. hookup. ie and said: "It's not about dating, it's about mating."

Nobody from Hook Up was available for comment yesterday when contacted by the Sunday Tribune to see if they had any plans to erect a tent beside the FF and Sunderland marquees next year.