Marathon week lies ahead but Moloney relishes the challenge

IT’S less than a week out from the maddest and biggest racing festival in the country when upwards of 150,000 punters will descend on Ballybrit, but the relatively new Galway Racecourse Manager betrays no signs of panic.

In fact, Michael Moloney exudes a reassuring sense of calm ahead of an action-packed week which remains critical to the coffers of Horse Racing Ireland and will see paupers rubbing shoulders with gentry in the quest for winners at Galway.

There will be those who will have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of their fancies; there will be others who won’t have a clue; but all will be treated equally when descending on Ballybrit for a meeting which tests stamina like no other and offers an atmosphere which the description ‘unique’ doesn’t do justice to.

Moloney is only in his second year as the man in charge – he took over from his father John who ran the place without fear or favour for nearly three decades – but he is no novice. He grew up on the track and served in a similar role at Plumpton in the UK before being enticed back West.

He is the man who has to knit all the different strands together in putting such a big meeting in place, but there was a seamless transition from father to son 12 months ago and the younger Moloney has embraced the responsibility of maintaining the festival’s popularity with a mix of pride, energy and vision.

Though advance tickets sales are up (around 5 to 6%) and the corporate hospitality for both the Killanin and Millennium Stands are already sold out for the first six days of the festival, Moloney is guarded against making predictions of a big surge in attendance from last year’s total figure of 138,945.

He knows the omens are looking good, but doesn’t feel the need to sugarcoat what may or not happen at Ballybrit next week, especially given the potential impact of that great unknown – the weather.

The track was hit by 50mls of rain in just a 24-hour period last week and a further 18mls on Tuesday night, leaving the up-to-date going report, ‘yielding to soft’ on the flat track and ‘yielding’ on the NH course, with a forecast for ‘showers and sunny spells’ over the next few days.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.