Eighth day not a priority

Galway plans: Galway week may be the major bank roll for racing in Ireland, but plans to further capitalise on that with an eight-day festival appear to be on hold.

Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) chief executive Brian Kavanagh said yesterday an extension to the August bank holiday Monday "is not under discussion at HRI at the moment", although he didn't rule out such a move.

"Currently, the major project in Galway is the completion of the new stand, which will be in place for the festival in 2007," he said.

"There could be a joint review of the situation with Galway after that. But an eighth day is not under discussion at HRI at the moment."

The Galway manager, John Moloney, also said the idea of another day, which has been mooted for the past number of years on the back of the spectacular success of the summer festival, is not a priority.

"It's not something at the forefront of my mind," he said. "Seven days seems to fit very well with people. But that's not to say it won't possibly happen at some stage."

Moloney confirmed that pre-race bookings for the week are on a par with last year's record attendance figures, which reached 210,000 over the seven days. That included a massive 46,498 crowd for the Thursday.

But it is the betting figures that continue to make a massive contribution to the sport's coffers, with almost €40 million predicted to be wagered over the week.

The forecast going is "good" with some "good to firm" places. The weather forecast is for sunshine and some showers.

There was some significant ante-post support yesterday for Kinger Rocks, who is now 9 to 2 to win Thursday's Hurdle.

Dermot Weld also has the Plate favourite, Ansar, and is now just 22 to 1 with the sponsors to bring off the double.