Winner alright – as weekend sees Race Week crowds up

Date Published: 02-Aug-2011

As the sun set on another racing festival, there will be smiles across the faces of the organisers and indeed the punters that incredibly, for just one magical week, they managed to escape the big ‘R’.

Okay, the bookies and the tote were down on last year. The on-course turnover had dropped by over 11%, with bookmakers experiencing a 21% decline on Galway Plate Wednesday.

But with more than a few long shots romping home, nobody will feel sorry for the men in hats and bulging satchels. The betting figures were almost €17m over the seven days, which was nearly €2m down on last year.

For those who rely on the Galway king for a few quid – with many gamblers only betting on the master of Rosewell House – they were not disappointed.

Dermot Weld won 17 of the 52 races over the seven days, an astonishing third of the races, a record which passed out his previous best as early as Thursday.

And the crowds were there to cheer all his favourites home. Over the entire festival there were 147,668 people in attendance – just over 3,000 fewer than last year. It is some achievement for racecourse manager John Maloney and his team in these hard times.

The Friday and Saturday meets were up slightly – which are the days, along with Sunday, that attract the biggest local crowds.

“We were extremely happy with how the summer festival went in 2011. There was a great atmosphere, it went very well, there was great racing, Dermot Weld with his 17 winners,” enthused Mr Maloney.

“The punters definitely won this year, the bookmakers definitely got a bit of a belt with Weld’s winners.

“The paying crowds were down about 2%. We were hoping to attain last year’s figures so we had a number of special offers, for example we had the Wednesday and Thursday events on sale for €50 so people availed of them.”

For more on this story and lots of photos from the weekend’s racing action see this week’s Sentinel