The bets are flying at Ballybrit. So is everything else.
Monday not long after 4pm: a group of young men, rigged out in ‘Peaky Blinder best’, wager that they can make it from the totes across to the bar without getting drenched in the 15-second journey. They just about win.
From the safety of a hospitality tent, whose rigging rattles and billows as though it was located on Everest base camp rather than Ireland’s oldest racing festival, we observe a seasoned couple; he in full summer suit, she in a frock and matching hat from Anthony Ryan’s of Galway, make their way gamely across the pavilion. They are making a bolt for the champagne bar – and there’s worse things to be doing on a Monday afternoon when July gives way to August. “Three to one that hat goes,” murmurs someone. It does.
The race shop sign says it all: jackets, hats, umbrellas, sandals, and polo shirts. Throw in shades, sun cream, snorkels and an inflatable boat and you’ve an idea of how to dress for the Galway Races 2023.
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Monday afternoon opened the 154th edition of the venerable west of Ireland tradition. The event took a bit of a buffeting from the pandemic, with the weeklong crowd coming in at 116,000 last year. That’s a full 100,000 fewer than turned up here over the berserk high point of 2006, when the Galway Races somehow became the high cathedral and gathering point for the Celtic Tiger fast set. The tales are tired now – the gauche Fianna Fáil hospitality tent, choppers fizzing about the sky and flown not so much by propellers as the inflated notions of its occupants while, down at ground level, the bubbly flowed in a manner befitting the richest little country in the world.
[ All eyes on crowds and clouds for start of Galway FestivalOpens in new window ]
But in 2023, Galway is much closer to its roots. It is, at heart, a country festival. It is laid back and friendly and there’s something wonderfully daft and defiant about getting all dolled to stand in a field in summer storms. On a moseying opening day you could waltz into any of the car parks 90 minutes before the first race, dodge a rain shower, grab a drink and enjoy an unexpected burst of sunshine perfectly timed before the first race of the week, the 5.10 novices hurdle. The first parade, before a swelling crowd, is a timely reminder that the Galway Races is ultimately a bit of craic. It’s a chance to gather around the paddock and to nod significantly as if to say: “Yup, that looks like a racehorse to me.”
Ballybrit is the place where people who dress as though they own a horse almost certainly don’t and those who dress as though they don’t probably do. The weeklong festival is worth close to €60 million to the local economy and a good chunk of that is spent on clueless fiver and tenner each-way bets.
The main stand was reasonably full for the opening race, which included a terrific drum combination – the Galway city charter decrees that no festival may open without a group of drummers wearing face paint while pounding their way into souls, loins and eardrums of the public with a vaguely tribal beat. Then came the anthem and they were off.
The first race obliged with Mystical Power, the 6/4 favourite, storming home through ‘going’ that offered a succinct description of the entire month of July: soft. Heavy, cloudy. Those who had cleverly wagered hollered a buoyant – and knowledgeable – “Hon Mystical” as jockey Mark Walsh broke clear, jubilantly name-checking their win though they had known and loved the horse since it was a foal rather than heard its name for the first time just 15 minutes earlier when they had seen it posted favourite on the bookies’ electronic boards.
It was a crowd-pleasing start and, afterwards, RTÉ achieved a coup by drawing a few words out from JP McManus on Limerick’s recent All-Ireland success. His companion was a beaming John Kiely, the manager of the four-in-a-row team who will chase history next year.
“Ah sure that is asking too much, we can’t be telling ya that!” McManus said when asked about Kiely’s secret. If the racing maestro ever divulges his secrets, then everyone has a chance of walking out of Ballybrit a bit richer. But he couldn’t hang around. His next horse, Never a Dull Moment, was running again in the 5.40. It came in first and already, the Galway Races had its first story of the week.
A long festive week goes until Sunday, wind and rain be damned. Hould on to your hats and your helicopters.