Moloney happy with Festival 2013 “I’m very pleased with this year’s Festival and looking forward already to 2014” was the upbeat message from Galway Manager John Moloney as the seven-day summer highlight at Ballybrit drew to a close. Despite horrendous weather both on Wednesday and Thursday, the total attendance for the meeting stood at 127,768 – down just 3.3% on the 2012 Festival. The Guinness Galway Hurdle day crowd alone was down well over 9,000 at 27,669, so a slight decline in the total attendance over the week can certainly be seen as a positive overall sign. The Tote can also be reasonably pleased with a marginal drop in their aggregate over the week at €4,299,612, just 1.5% down on the corresponding figure last year. Moloney said, “I’m very pleased with the week considering the poor weather we had on Wednesday and Thursday. Great credit must go to our head groundsman Gerry Broderick and his team, and to Clerk of the Course Lorcan Wyer. “They started every morning here about 6am. We had an inch of rain in three hours on Thursday which made things very difficult but we got through it. “I’d also like to thank all the owners, trainers and jockeys for their support, and particularly those from overseas which was great to see.” However life in the betting ring continues to be tough, and the bookmakers turnover for the seven days was down over 10% at €7,820,922. The heavy and persistent rain both on Wednesday and Thursday obviously had a detrimental effect on the ring as €1.3 million less was bet on those two days alone compared with 12 months ago. Leading rails bookmaker Brian Graham was probably speaking for many when saying, “I can’t wait to get out of here this evening! I’m going on a family holiday to Portugal next week and hopefully that’ll help to take my mind off it. “It’s been a tough week results wise but the racing here also seems to be getting less competitive.” He added, “There seems to be an attitude among many trainers that they don’t want to take on Dermot Weld, especially in the maidens.” The Belfast-based layer also had an interesting point to make about Galway Plate day. “I think they should have a good look at the programme on the Wednesday. There is a lot of handicaps (five in total; Plate, 2 handicap hurdles & 2 Flat handicaps), and I don’t think it’s very attractive for punters” Interestingly the attendance on Galway Plate day was the lowest of the first five days at just 14,038, although the weather did play a significant part. Perhaps Graham and his colleagues on the rails should be thankful for the downpour as six of the eight favourites obliged on Wednesday! Just for the record, 22 of the 52 Festival races this year were won by the favourite or joint favourite (42%). Dermot Weld once again led the way in the leading trainer competition with a superb 11 winners, although special mention should also go to Tony Martin with eight winners including a record three over the week with the mare Busted Tycoon. Pat Smullen and Ruby Walsh were the top Flat and National Hunt riders respectively.
