The Galway Racing Festival

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And so it starts. Seven days of carousing, celebrating, weeping, singing, laughing, loving, hugging, whooping, and sleeping on as many as three or four occasions. It is the most incredible racing show on earth, with none of the spectacle of Dubai and none of the money and vulgarity of the Breeders Cup; its closest rivals would be Punchestown and Cheltenham, with a soupçon of Royal Ascot without the aggravation of dressing up like a dog’s dinner.

Instead, we have jumps racing and flat across 53 races, chasing prize money totalling some £2m, watched by a crowd of around 130,000. The first day is typical—hurdling first and then a 2-year-old maiden. Weld and Joseph O’B might battle that one out, with Emmett possibly interfering in the outcome. Tony Martin has a couple… sorry, I mean his sister Cathy … later and then and then… and there’s the rub.

It is impossible to work them all out without frying your brain, being selective, or spreading your dosh.

When I become immeasurably wealthy, I shall take a local hotel for the week, a helicopter landing pad, and beetle backwards and forwards between Galway and Goodwood so that I get the best of all worlds: superb racing, greet betting races, delicious food, properly cellared stout, all my favourite people, and fun as far as the hours allow and the eyes can see. Admittedly, the chopper will have to get a wiggle on, and Goodwood might have to start an hour earlier - but that’s the point of being immeasurably wealthy, surely?

If you’d like a digital copy of the racecard, CLICK THIS LINK, and you can either use it online or download a PDF

16:50 - Galmont Hotel & The Galway Bay Hotel Novice Hurdle (4YO only) 2m ½f - 13 run

PIGEON HOUSE 2 pts Win

17:25 - Easyfix Handicap Hurdle (95-109) (4YO plus) 2m ½f - 20 run

EXPLOSIVE BOY 1 pt e/w with 5 places

18:00 - Eventus Irish EBF (C & G) Maiden (2YO only) 7f - 8 run

WHISKY & BEER 2 pts e/w with 8 runners or 2 pts Win with 7 or fewer runners