Day four of the Punchestown Festival saw the first meeting in three years hit its stride as it faced into the home stretch.

Favourable weather conditions and even a sprinkling of sunshine enticed many to make that extra effort with their ensembles in preparation for the biggest day for fashionistas… Ladies Day tomorrow.

Proving to be the clear ‘winner all right’ in the Bollinger Best Dressed contest was Wexford designer Julie Caulfield.

Despite welcoming her first baby girl 10 weeks ago, she managed to find the time to create a winning outfit herself. She teamed an emerald-green two piece with Steve Madden shoes, a Chanel handbag and a headpiece from Caithriona King in Galway. “I’m a designer so pre-Covid, Ladies Day events would have been very busy for me,” she said. “I have a baby at home so everything was so last minute.

“I’ve been in a few finals before but never won anything.”

She said her biggest problem ahead of today’s grand final of the Best Dressed competition was “finding someone to mind the baby”.

On the celebrity front, there were several familiar faces in the crowds, including movie director Jim Sheridan. He was there with his friend Mike Carty, who owns Rosie O’Grady’s bar in New York. Sheridan was sporting an ankle boot, explaining he had pulled two ligaments – coincidentally on his left foot. After the success of his Sky documentary on Ian Bailey, he revealed that he has now turned his attentions to a new project, namely the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. “I’m doing a five-part TV series on Lockerbie with Sky. It’s in pre-production,” he told the Irish Independent.

There was a huge reaction to champion jockey Robbie Power (40) announcing his retirement live on air to RTÉ, fresh from winning on Magic Daze.

Power, who has claimed victories in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Grand National and the Irish Grand National, will ride out for the last time today in the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle.

He said his 21-year career had been marked by “so many highlights” but he reserved special mention for the day he won the Punchestown Gold Cup piloting Sizing John.

“I’ve had so many highs, I’ve had a wonderful career,” Power said. However, the last few weeks of hip pain had been “torture”, he said, adding that wife Hannah had been very understanding as he had been “very grumpy at times”. His entire family will come to the festival today to see his final race in person.

The feature race of the day, the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle, saw the 11/10 favourite Klassical Dream claim a superb victory for trainer Willie Mullins and jockey Paul Townend.

Crowd figures were once again strong for the third day of the festival, with a record 21,357 people making a day of it at the Kildare event.

The previous highest attendance was 20,756 in 2019.