GALWAY Races chief executive Michael Moloney hailed a broad spread of winning connections at the 2024 summer festival as particularly positive element of the meeting, which saw a slight drop in crowds and an increase in both Tote and betting ring turnover versus last year.

A total of 116,374 passed through the gates at Ballybrit last week, down 5,988 from the 122,362 in 2023, though much of the difference in attendance came on the final day when a status yellow rainfall warning contributed to a drop in 4,951 compared to the same card last year.

Betting ring activity climbed to €6,609,566 (from €6,418,507 in 2023) and there were increases at the Tote windows too (€5,003,120 versus €4,921,364 in 2023).

Moloney told The Irish Field: “We had a great week here. It started off really well with a super atmosphere and throughout the week, crowds were strong. Betting ring and Tote turnover were strong too. Obviously we were impacted on Sunday by the yellow rainfall warning, which was a pity because that’s our family day. Up until that, we had gone really well and operations on site seemed to flow as good as we could have expected.

’No major domination’

“On the racing front, there was a good spread of winners; no one ran away with it. Obviously the top two, Willie Mullins and Joseph O’Brien, had five winners each, so it was great to see a mix of people in the winner’s enclosure, including syndicates and local people. That’s what Galway is all about and it was good to see there was no major domination of the week.”

There are no significant structural changes expected to the race programme heading into the 2025 meeting, though the racecourse’s annual review is already underway into any possible enhancements for the future.

“Everything is looked at in the aftermath of the week, and a survey went out on Wednesday to 40,000 people so we’ll wait and see the results of that over the next couple of weeks,” said Moloney.

“We’ll take a lot of time to go through it in detail. We’re always open to feedback; listening to the input of people has helped get us to where we were last week. It makes it the success I think it was last week.”

Race values

Prize money levels for some of the supporting races at the meeting were branded as “disappointing” by trainer Richard O’Brien in the lead-up to this year’s festival, and Moloney says the track will continue to push for the best pots they can deliver for the week.

“We put a lot of work into our prize money pre-Covid in terms of trying to raise our minimum values, and we got there,” he explained.

“That was an effort for the quality of racing we have, but it’s certainly something we can look at.

“We have a strong rostrum of sponsors who are putting a significant amount of money into it, but there is a strong programme of races throughout Ireland for the full year that have to be financed.

“It’s certainly something that can be discussed with Horse Racing Ireland, like we do every year. We’re always looking to get the best out of it that we can.”

Close to 500 people were said to have attended the first summer festival ball in aid of Galway native Graham Lee, who suffered life-changing injuries in a fall at Newcastle last November. Moloney was delighted by how the event was supported.

Lee fundraiser

“It was a fantastic occasion that went better than we could have envisaged,” he said.

“It was a lot of effort for the team to take it on, given the week that was in it, but there was great support from Galway and from racing. When someone so local to the racecourse can be celebrated and supported all in the one night, it was a really touching and emotional night.”

One of the obvious lowpoints of the week was a total of six horses who were believed to have suffered fatal injuries at the festival. The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board has begun a review into the matter, but a spokesperson for the regulator indicated to The Irish Times that there initially seemed to be “no commonality” between the incidents.

Moloney added: “The review with the IHRB is ongoing and we’re obviously working with them on it. It’s something that will take a focus for us with reviewing it, and seeing what comes out from it.”