Races numbers down - but still over 184,000

Crowds were down at this year’s Galway Races by nearly 6,000 but the 2007 punters had deeper pockets, gambling over €30m during the festival — €65,000 more than a year ago.Over the seven-day festival, 184,180 people passed through the turnstiles, with Ladies Day firmly established as the biggest crowd puller with an attendance of 46,637.Between them over the week, they splashed out a phenomenal €8,623,403 at the Tote and a mouth-watering €20,756,919 with the bookies. The biggest wagering was as usual done on Thursday’s Hurdle Day — the tote turnover reached €2.07m compared to €1.78m for the same day last year, while €4,411,408 changed hands at the bookies almost matching the 2006 record.Including the €1.4m spent at Ladbrokes, betting over the festival reached over €30m — up €65,000 on 2006.The crowds were around 3% down on last year when…..