galway:joke track

fr wishy washy

i think its second only to Tramore for quality of racing(poor) . last 2 fences 50 yds apart then nothing for 3 furlongs !!!!!!!!!!

i hate watching it on telly and visited once in sept and remember saying that the festival must be like a meeting in a sardine can.

i only bet there once in a blue moon.

Morgans

This of group 1 winners that have run at the Galway festival is astounding. Far more than the majority of Irish tracks, especially considering there isnt one group race at the meeting.

Grey Swallow, Go and Go, Timarida, Dance Design, Market Booster, off the top of my head

Derby runner-up The Great Gatsby also won at the festival.

The winners of the big handicaps all need to have a lot in hand.

maximus66

Well i was at the festival this year and it was a about an average week. The final turn for the home straight is pathetic. Any horse who is leading goin into the final corner and comes across the hill usually loses a place or two. its somethin the course stewarts should look into next year. it was the main reason why i lost boatloads this week!!!!!!

fr wishy washy

Morgans wrote:

This of group 1 winners that have run at the Galway festival is astounding. Far more than the majority of Irish tracks, especially considering there isnt one group race at the meeting.

Grey Swallow, Go and Go, Timarida, Dance Design, Market Booster, off the top of my head

Derby runner-up The Great Gatsby also won at the festival.

The winners of the big handicaps all need to have a lot in hand.

For the life of me i cannot explain the above.
Maybe they were just late developers or something (the horses) and it suited the Trainers to let them run here.But considering the hype and the attention that this meeting gets (4 days live on rte) the track is pi$$ poor imho.

Morgans

I agree that for the most part the racing there doesnt deserve the hype it gets, but it is as much tradition as anything. They have extended from a five day to seven day festival in the past decade. On the layout of the course, the final two fences are ridiculously close together and should be re-arranged, some horrible falls there today.

Good trainers send decent horses there, especially 2yo's as they see its as giving horses a good education. Especially Weld, but it was noticeable that they 2yo maiden this year didnt meet its usual standard. That said, outside of the classics, it remains the highlight of the summer season.

Lemlin

Only having one turnstile for students was the biggest joke. There were 7 or 8 for everyone else.

The student line also moved the slowest as the woman taking the money each day insisted on checking each ID, taking time to look at the person, and checking every note handed in. Thanks for the trust there love!

There were days where people would walk in every other turnstile no bother while I had to cue for a half an hour just because I'm a student.