A vibrant betting ring at Galway© Photo Healy Racing
A wet final day couldn’t put a dampener on what was another successful Galway Festival with a total attendance over the seven days of 116,374.
Heavy rain before racing turned the ground testing today and was an obvious deterrent with 9,178 braving the elements this afternoon compared with 14,129 on the final day last year.
Ladies Day on Thursday provided the biggest crowd over the week with 25,290 racegoers (down just over 600 compared to the same day last year) while there were 22,106 at the Friday evening fixture.
The overall attendance for the seven days was 116,374 as against 122,367 in 2023.
The Galway Festival betting ring is traditionally one of the strongest in the country and the turnover for the opening five days this week was €5.4m, up €250,000 on last year.
Galway Racecourse CEO Michael Moloney said, “We wait all year for this week to come along and it’s fantastic when it does.
“We kicked off on Monday with a huge crowd (17,074). The place was rocking and there was such a great buzz around the place. We get such great support from the people of Galway and they come from right across the country.
“There has been a great spread of winners right throughout the week. All the top trainers and jockeys are here and it’s great to see it being shared around.
“We’ve had some cracking finishes as well throughout the week and all in all it’s been a fantastic week. Roll on 2025!”
Willie Mullins again won the leading trainer award, which is decided on a points basis, but only by a narrow margin from Joseph O’Brien.
A double on the final day helped Jack Kennedy to be the leading National Hunt rider at the meeting with four winners, while Wayne Lordan took the Flat jockeys award also with four victories.
