By George ! The horses and dogs keeping pundit happy

When it comes to horse or greyhound racing, Galway Bay FM’s George McDonagh has a voice – and personality – that is instantly recognisable.

Indeed, to listen to him over the airwaves, you’d find yourself thinking he would be a guy you would like to sit down and have a pint with.

On this occasion, the beverage is coffee but the larger than life Bohermore native proves to be just as entertaining over a hot beverage as you’d imagine he would be over a cold brew. He’s just an interesting character to be around.

Although the 2013 Galway Summer Festival may be a distance memory now, McDonagh is looking forward to Ballybrit’s last meeting of the year, which takes place at the racetrack this Sunday and Monday. For him, it marks the real ‘start’ of the national hunt season.

“Listowel is probably the end of the Summer festivals but Galway in October, in my opinion, is the start of jump racing in Ireland. In the sense that, every year, some of the better horses make their reappearance in Galway,” says the affable pundit.

“Last year, Carlingford Lough, which won this year’s Galway Plate, had his second run over fences on the Monday of the October meeting. He didn’t win but everybody – myself included – said, ‘you know, this horse, he is just getting ready for the Plate next year’. You could just see it.”

“So, I think this Galway meeting just signifies the start of the jump racing scene in Ireland. In a couple of weeks’ time you have Cheltenham in November and you then don’t find it long until you are looking forward to Leopardstown at Christmas.”

In any event, McDonagh will be back in full throttle on Galway Bay FM this weekend, bringing his appealing, sharp-witted but, most importantly, insightful style of punditry to listeners. This often includes, hand on heart, where he lays his own money.

It makes you wonder does he have an affinity for particular horses, trainers or jockeys. “No,” he exclaims. “When it comes to gambling, your heart is in your arse pocket. That is the short answer to that. There are some you would avoid, definitely.”

For McDonagh’s part, he has been following the horses since he was five years of age and his knowledge comes from religiously scrutinising every race meeting. This includes recording the races daily and watching them every evening upon his return home from work at Eastern Electrical in Ballybane, where he has been employed in sales for the past 13 years.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.