IN a week when figures have been generally down, yesterday's attendance of 25,537 at Galway bucked the trend. It was an increase of 45 on last year's Plate day.

However, betting figures were again down with yesterday's bookmaker turnover of €3,287,334 a decrease of €551,142 on 2007. Tote turnover of €1,292,364 was down almost quarter of a million on last year.

A total of €598,857 was bet with the bookmakers on the William Hill Plate.