Sun was in short supply yesterday but there were plenty of tips to sift and winning slips as favourites delivered, writes CIAN NIHILLin Ballybrit
AFTER TWO sun-baked evenings on Monday and Tuesday, grey clouds and early drizzle did little to dampen the atmosphere around Ballybrit on day three of the Galway races.
With favourites taking the first two races, punters were in high spirits. An early roar from a packed grandstand got things under way as Galileo’s Choice, the favourite in the first race, held off a late challenger.
“A win in the first just sets you up for the day, then you’re betting winnings, guilt-free,” a grateful Stephen Tummon from Circular Road in Galway commented after taking a tip from his cousin and neighbour, Colm Tummon, for the opening race.
“I’ll just listen to him for the day I think, so if he’s going to be up, I’ll be up,” decided Stephen, before going to collect from what he hoped would be the first of many winning betting slips.
Colm, a self-described casual follower of horse racing, called Galway Races the most balanced festival for people who want to enjoy a bit of socialising and still see good racing.
“It’s not the top horses, it wouldn’t be Cheltenham or the Grand National but there’s great craic, it’s the peak of the summer and sure isn’t a winner a winner at the end of the day,” he noted.
Of course it is often on small things that a day at the races can hang and while the Tummons left the bookies’ ring encouraged and more importantly wealthier than before, Barry Powell from Ballina was cursing his luck after the horse he backed finished a length short in second place.
“Not doing so good today now,” he said some three races later as his luck had clearly failed to turn around. “It’s about the craic as well though,” he reasoned. “I’ve had a good week, got a couple of tips yesterday and they belted home so I’m two or three hundred euro up from that.”
Tips can be a hard thing to sift through at the Galway Races where rumours of guaranteed winners circulate aplenty.
“You hear them off everyone,” said Barry. “We’d never have them coming into the racecourse and then you get in and they’re flying around, everyone has something to tell you.”
The tips did not stop with just horse racing. Sitting in the champagne tent, at what they labelled the Kerry table, were Orla Winters and her friends Mandy McKenzie-Vass, Claire Murphy and Deirdre Sheehy from Tralee, discussing who would be declared best-dressed lady today.
“It’ll be someone who didn’t come in today or yesterday, someone fresh-faced,” said Orla, who, dressed in formal wear and matching feathery hat, had been at Ballybrit since Monday.
“The races are all about dressing up, feeling good and drinking champagne,” she said. The group of Kerry women have been coming to Galway for years, they said.
“We plan all year for it, we’re already planning next year,” said Claire.
“You’ve got to spread out the week properly,” she advised, before adding with a laugh, “unfortunately the whole spreading it out went out the window last night.”
For those who had come primarily to watch horses, the big race of the day did not disappoint when Blazing Tempo gave trainer Willie Mullins, often a runner-up, his first Galway Plate.
Joy for Mullins was disaster for the bookies who, having begun to recover from favourites winning the early races, lost big when Blazing Tempo was backed in to half her odds. “We got off to a bad start, then had two good results and then gave it all back,” lamented family bookmaker Neil Casey from Clare.
The Casey woes reflected larger losses for bookmakers with their estimated turnover down from last year, a sign that racegoers were betting less than previously. Attendance, at 19,253, was 1,193 down on last year.