Crowd down for first time this week at Ballybrit

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The attendance was down at Ballybrit last evening, largely due to the inclement weather. A crowd of 23 and a half thousand braved the rain, down 2,300 on Friday of last year. The smaller crowd meant a smaller turnover for the tote and bookies but they still took in 1.7 million euro between them. The bookies turnover of just over a million euro was 340 thousand down on last year while the tote turnover of 711 thousand was 25 thousand less than last year. Although the incessant rain dampened spirits at times, there was a huge cheer for Tuam jockey Leigh Roche when he was first past the post on the Harry Rogers-trained Botanical Lady in the Arthur Guinness Handicap. Among the well-known faces in the crowd yesterday was newscaster Siún Nic Gearailt. Today the races revert to an afternoon meet and the first of the seven race card is at 2.35, with full coverage here on Galway Bay fm.