Galway Races survice economic crisis

AT first glance, the attendance and betting figures from last week’s Galway racing festival make for somewhat grim digestion even allowing for the economic recession which has gripped the country.The overall paying attendance figure for still by far the country’s most popular race meeting was 143,141 which represented an 18.1% fall on 2008, while bookmaker turnover (€13,273,416) over the seven days showed a marked decrease of 26.7% from 12 months ago. The Tote also took a substantial hit with last week’s overall figure of €5,867,770 down 20.2% from last year.Yet, the reality is that the average daily attendance at Ballybrit last week was almost 20,500 which is a figure the vast majority of Irish racecourses can only dream about, while even the decreased bookmaker and Tote turnover at Galway would be the envy of such big tracks as the Curragh and Leopardstown.A crowd of 42,415 on Guinness Hurdle day last Thursday still represented a phenomenal attendance by any yardstick and is, by some distance, the...