Omens looking good for big crowds and betting bonanza in Ballybrit

THERE’s no race meeting like it in the country and huge crowds will once again descend on Ballybrit next week for the Galway Summer Festival – an unique sporting occasion which brings together all walks of life.

The Irish Derby fixture, together with the National Hunt festivals at Leopardstown and Punchestown may be more for the racing purists, but none of them can compete with the Galway Races when it comes to attendances and betting turnover.

The week-long summer carnival remains the most popular race meeting in the country and with hotels all over the city already putting the ‘full house’ signs up and corporate bookings for the festival showing a marked increase on last year, the 2014 Galway edition is odds to deliver another financial bonanza for Horse Racing Ireland.

If anyone ever doubted the pulling power of Ballybrit in high summer, Ladies Day 12 months ago would have converted even the most cynical of minds. Though the occasion was marred by downpours of biblical proportions, a staggering number of racegoers still braved the elements.

In fact, a crowd of 27,669 came through the turnstiles and that turned out to be a record attendance for an Irish race meeting in 2013. Even long-serving track manager John Moloney was taken aback by the loyalty of their customers as he said at the time: “It was probably the wettest day I have ever seen for racing.”

Another miracle was that the eight-race card on Guinness Hurdle day went ahead without a hitch – the product of extensive drainage work carried out at the track – despite two inches of rain falling in little more than 24 hours.

The Galway Plate afternoon also had to contend with a deluge, but it didn’t stop Tony McCoy and Carlingford Lough from justifying a big pre-race gamble and leading home an unprecedented 1-2-3 in the festival’s flagship race for owner JP McManus.

With lots of facilities and increased cover around the Ballybrit enclosures, the level of comfort for racegoers is the envy of the vast majority of Irish courses and, of course, the massive prizemoney up for grabs also contributes to the festival’s mass appeal.

‘Laying one out for Galway’ is a phrase bandied about up and down the country for months ahead of the festival and there is something special about leading a horse into the winners’ enclosure at the track in late July or early August.

In the heel of the hunt, whether you are a pauper or a prince, there’s really only one place to be next week!