Not since 1869, when 40,000 reportedly showed up, has Galway seen a crowd like the 36,933 that attended yesterday.

Not surprisingly the remarkable crowd figure, a modern record for Galway, broke all national betting records with the Tote breaking the £1million mark for the very first time.

A total of £1,015,820 broke the national Tote record that had been set on Wednesday and the bookmakers turnover was also a course and national record reaching £2,192,385. That compared to last year's bookie figure of £2,052,882.

To cap the mind-boggling figures set yesterday, the £447,650 bet with the bookmakers on the featured Galway Hurdle was a new course record for a single race.