Michael Duffy
YOU can’t believe everything you read in the papers, hear on the radio or see on television - but delve deep enough and you’ll discern a valuable nugget.
“You haven’t lived ‘til you’ve kissed a stranger at the Galway Races”, says the ad for tourism in the west of Ireland, and isn’t that a lovely thought?
Now every man to himself but, personally, I’d prefer to find the winner of the Hurdle and the Plate and maybe have both of them in a Lucky 15, with a 12/1 springer in Monday’s GPT Amateur Handicap, and some tip for a claimer in Redcar. Then you’ve lived.
But if kissing strangers is your thing, Galway next week might be the venue for it. I suggest the Hole in The Wall pub, a five-minute walk from Eyre Square.
From the outside it might look like a little England drinking tavern, but inside those wooden doors it’ll be like a webcam live from Ibiza. Quite a few of the jockeys flock there to let off some post-racing steam - and ten pints of cider poured into an eight stone frame sometimes make for a messy chemical reaction.
Of course the cold reality will hit the next morning when the 26 runners in a three-mile handicap hurdle all look to have better than an each-way chance.
At the time of writing the course at Ballybrit is Soft in places and Heavy in others. Winners will be difficult come by. Ensure your selection stays the race distance - plus VAT. (Have you seen that hill?)
In the Flat races don’t back Dermot Weld blind. In the National Hunt races, back Dermot Weld blind.
The Galway Races is a great leveller so Val O’Brien will have a winner and Aidan O’Brien will have a few beaten favourites. That’s just the way it is. Horses that win early in the week will come out again later in the week and, far from being tired from their earlier ordeal, they’ll go and win again.
Logic goes out the window.
Monday, Tuesday and Friday are all evening meetings, with the first race underway at 5.10pm. There’s a little comfort left in the early days’ racing but Friday has got increasingly busy with a new crowd coming to Galway for the weekend and taking in the final three days of the festival.
Wednesday and Thursday are the marquee days. Wednesday is Galway Plate day and traditionally it was a day for the farmers from the country. They still come. You’ll spot them handy enough among a crowd of 40,000.
Thursday is nuts. It’s ladies days as well as Guinness Galway Hurdle day. Wear your best hat if you’re a lady; ditch the black Wranglers if you’re a fella, and take out the Sunday shoes.
Last year 48,000 people came racing on Thursday. The action on Saturday and Sunday begins at 2.15pm and resemble more of an average day’s racing. The crowds are thinner and while there’s a bit more comfort, the winners are just as difficult come by.
See you in the Hole in the Wall so.
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