All The Mutton, None Of The Bustin'

Brainstorm! What if, instead of having scared little children try to ride sheep, we strapped stuffed animals to their backs and made the fuzzy little guys race? Leave it to the Irish to take mutton sports to the next level.

Welcome to the Sheep Racing Grand National in Leghowney, Ireland, the Emerald Isle's premier ovine gambling event. Even a global recession can't bring down this sport. Nor can it stop a bored Irish website writer from breaking out every sheep pun imaginable....

"Ewe wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it!' joked one lucky punter who said he'd won $100.

"I was fleeced!" said another who said his sheep was still wandering round the course.

And one thing's for sure. Nobody pulled the wool over his eyes!

Classic, classic. The jokes also go well with this sentence: "The first-ever Sheep Racing meeting, which took place last year, drew a record attendance." A record in the first year? Impressive. Not as impressive as an Elmo doll piloting a young ram over bales of hay, but still a good effort.

Betting fans flock to Ireland's first sheep racing festival [IrishCentral]

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Thank you for continued support of Deadspin. Please, Barry, Don't Hurt 'Em will bring on the night. Sorry about that earlier unpleasantness, Yanks.