Monday

HAPPY Birthday Galway Races, 150 years today!

It’s the people’s meeting really isn’t it? You meet characters you don’t see again until next year’s Festival if you are lucky enough that God doesn’t need you for a job up above.

The first man I meet today is Terryglass native Mick Quinlan. For 67 years he has been coming to Galway, he tells me. “Came here for the first time the year I made my Holy Communion. My aunty Bridie brought me as a present,” he says.

“What won the plate that year Mick?” I ask him. “Sure I haven’t a clue, I was eating a big ice cream.”

I go for a mosey around the enlosure and everywhere you look you see people greeting each other and shaking hands. Their yearly meet-up and all excited and happy. Beside the new Betting Hall is The Hop House Bar, which has a huge canopy over it, and you can enjoy a pint of Hop House for €6. A Guinness or Smithwicks is €5.20, while a bottle of the non-alcoholic is €4.

There are plenty of food outlets dotted around the massive enclosure. In the Millenium Stand you can have beef roll for €9.50 or a chicken cajun roll for €8. Down in the Mayors Garden there are 12 bookmakers and a Rockshore Tent with a food hall and Festival Village. The Real Irish Burger Company are throwing out a “bacon & cheese legend” for €8 and if you fancy pizza you can grab a Romano’s margerita & pepporini for €14.

A crowd of over 20,000 make the pilgrimage this evening and the feature Connacht Hotel QR Handicap throws up a great story with the winner Great White Shark trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by 21-year-old Jody Townend, sister of champion jockey Paul.

Jody suffered a schooling fall at Willie’s last October and in typical racing game talk “ah, ‘t’was only a small thing” fashion ahe described her injury:”I broke my T12 vertebra and had to get six screws and two rods put in with a stabiliser as the fracture was on my spinal cord.”

Jesus, just writing this makes me cringe fair play to her. She also earns high praise from Willie who said that he hoped she would take out a flat licence, but Jody was keen on point-to-pointing.

“After watching this video she might change her mind,” he said. A jockey with a big future ahead of her, please God.

I mange to get out of the press room for 9.30pm and I head to The Quays on Shop Street to meet up with Listowel crew Bookie Berkie, Spike, Bags, Victor 55, John “Joys” Conway and Pat and Julie Browne.

“Bags” had his 60th in John B’s Pub on Saturday night and is still full of running! The rumour around Shop Street is that Shane Lowry is in The Quays, but I didn’t see him. Sure ye know this game lads believe half of what you hear and none of what you see!

Tuesday

The feature race the Colm Quinn BMW Mile is won by Saltonstall for the north county Dublin stable of Ado McGuinness and jockey Colin Keane. The horse was picked by by Ado’s assistant Stephen Thorne at the Goffs Horses-In-Training Sale and is jointly owned by the Manchester based Dooley brothers, James, David and Mark, and Killorglin, Co Kerry-born Bart O’Sullivan.

Of course all the boys are excited and as well as having a few bob on at 9/1 the first prize pot comes to €70k.

Bart is joined by Killorglin natives Dodo Sheahan and Mike Larkin and they carried the party uptown afterwards. We have equally great celebrations for the final two races this evening, with One Cool Poet winning for the DRFG Partnership led by Tullamore man Ollie Ryan and Cloughjordan trainer Denis Hogan and Family share joyous scenes after young Joe Doyle wins with What A Challenge.

Again it’s 9.30 when I get out of the track and I head to O’Connell’s on Eyre Square to meet up with our Dub pals Chips, Snitch, Lord Halifax and Baby Snitch.

A night with the boys is always an education and I have to laugh when Lord Halifax tells a tale about a fella who passed away recently.

“Nice fella, but he would hold onto a note longer than Pavarotti!”

Wednesday

Galway Plate day and the feature is won by Borice for trainer Gordon Elliott, jockey Luke Dempsey and owners Simon Munir and Issac Souede.

It’s great to see Simon here, who flew in from France with his bloodstock manager Anthony Bromley, and for 23-year-old Luke, it’s another big success following on from a Cheltenham Festival winner a couple of years back.

Elliott gains great satisfaction for Luke as he is great pals with Luke’s mom and dad, Philip and Genie.

O’Connell’s on Eyre Square is the first port of call this evening and it’s a busy spot. We have great entertainment when Bunbrosna man Peter Tormey arrives in with GAA referee Brian Gavin.

Apparently, Peter is the spit of some mush off Love Island called Tommy and the minute he walks in there are gaggles of women looking for selfies!

Poor Gavin broke up a few scrimmages in his time on the hurling pitches but I’d say he never had to deal with this kind of melee!

Any of ye boys out there that need a wingman, get on to Peter – he’s the boy for the job!!

Thursday

Almost 25,000 turn up for Galway Hurdle day and I would bet my last euro that not one person present was not thrilled for the connections of the winner, Tudor City, trained by Tony “Harvey” Martin, ridden by Robert “Puppy” Power, and owned by Meath native, New York businessman John Breslin and wife Debbie.

“JB” as he is known was great pals with Harvey’s dad Jimmy, and when he passed away 19 years ago “JB” put a few in training with “Harvey”. This was their second Galway Hurdle success together after Quick Jack in 2015.

“JB” and Debbie are also great supporters of the Harvest Festival and I can tell ye two tales of why he is a freeman of Listowel.

A few years ago we had our Injured Jockeys Charity night in Mike The Pie’s and “JB” threw in a generous donation after treating the pub to a great banter session with jockey Davy Russell on the stage.

The signs are the whole of Mike The Pies backed Tudor City today, I’m told.

Then you have the Larry Guiney story! Larry is one of our own who worked for JB in New York in the scaffolding business for about 10 years. A gas man, when Larry decided to finally come back home, he drank for 235 days in a row and a gallon a day would have been low water!

That was eight years ago and Larry hasn’t drunk since!

Anyway, the story goes that JB gave Larry his P45 four times during his Big Apple stint, but always ended up taking him back because he was mad about him. One day JB is in his office and the phone goes. It’s the NYPD and they are going mad because one of “JB’s” trucks is parked up on Fifth Avenue. He gets the reg number and shouts out in the office find out who’s driving it. “It’s Larry,” he is told.

JB gets on the phone to Larry. “For f**ks sake Larry, what are you at you are blocking up the whole town with that truck?”

“I’m getting a hair cut John,” says Larry. “A hair cut, holy Jesus, can you not get it cut in your own time Larry,” to which he is told “sure didn’t it grow on your time, John.”