Galway officials believe strenuous implementation of an admission policy requiring those aged 17 and under to be accompanied by an adult will prove to be a “big positive” from last week’s festival.
Official overall attendance at the seven-day festival reached 124,745, a slide of just over 1,000 on last year’s figure. It included a crowd of 27,783 on Friday, the biggest of the week. It beat the Ladies’ Day attendance of 24,128 on Thursday.
An opening day attendance of 16,102 was down from the previous year’s 18,472, although Galway’s chief executive Michael Moloney downplayed suggestions that could have been an impact from the Mayo All-Ireland homecoming to Castlebar that evening.
Instead, he pointed to the longer-term benefits of tighter security aimed at preventing underage racegoers accessing the track unaccompanied and drinking alcohol. The policy was introduced for Ladies’ Day in 2025. It was expanded throughout last week.
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“We tightened up on young people attending on their own. That had an impact as well that was a real positive on this year’s festival and a real positive for people that want to attend the race meeting,” Moloney said.
“Thursday [Ladies’ Day] has had issues in the past with an over bias toward young people attending and we didn’t have that this year. People were able to come and enjoy it. That’s a positive into the future.
“We have had underage people coming to the racecourse and unfortunately attending on their own and managing to get alcohol. It’s not a situation we want. And I think other racegoers don’t want to be going to a race meeting where there are young people, unfortunately, drunk.
[ ‘We’ve been doing it since Jesus was a child’: outdoor drinking crackdown upsets Skerries ]
“It’s something a lot of racecourses are facing, the challenge around it now. We’ve been working on it the last two years. We felt when we did Thursday last year, some of those young people started to stray into the other race days, so this year we committed to having a consistent message right through the week.
“It was a big positive overall, and hopefully into next year as well. Unfortunately, we’ve had situations where we’ve had to get younger people home, call parents, and take drunk people home.
“At the end of the day, we can’t be responsible for people under-18. We made the decision that they’re more than welcome to come and enjoy the race day; but if they are, they need to come with their parents.
“It’s a challenge and, even speaking to our health and safety advisers, this is a challenge not just for racing. It’s a challenge at other events and other gatherings. We’re trying to get ahead of the game, and it definitely worked.”
Alcohol also hit the headlines at Galway on Sunday when jockeys Leigh Roche and Eoin Staples had to stand down from their rides after failing tests.
Testing of jockeys was carried out on three days during the Galway festival.
Perhaps the last high-profile case for alcohol was when Paul Carberry got a 30-day suspension and was fined €5,000 for a positive test in 2009. However, he had previously failed a test at the 2007 Galway festival.
Staples and Roche will have to face an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) referrals committee.
Amateur jockey Declan Queally has been referred for investigation by a senior official regarding his behaviour during an alleged weigh-room exchange with the IHRB starter Joe Banahan after a race on Sunday.
One jockey who will remember Galway for all the right reasons is Daniel King, the 21-year-old new star of the weigh-room who became the first rider since 1984 to complete the big Plate-Hurdle double.
It’s much less high-profile stuff at Roscommon on Tuesday where the Cork man has six rides. Much will depend on the impact on ground conditions of rainfall amounts forecast to reach up to 25mm before racing starts.
King can team up with owner-trainer John Nallen, who was also on the mark in Ballybrit last week, with Minella Moon Shine and Minella Hollow in the first two races.
