Galway Horse Racing Festival: Ireland's Premier event
If you are into horse racing and have been to Ireland, than there is no way you have not heard about the Galway Horse Racing Festival. The festival hosts some of the finest horses in all of Ireland and Britain, with occasional European entries. The event takes place annually, starting at the last Monday of the month of July. Races are held at the age old Ballybrit racecourse, which is situated at a distance of five kilometers from Galway city.
The Galway horse racing festival is one of the biggest in the world. The prize money that comes with the races is also an esteemable amount. The festivities go on for seven days and feature different types of races, including flat and jump racing events.
However, Galway races are not the only ones that have been held at the site. The place has been a popular racing spot since the middle of the thirteenth century according to historical records. But it wasn’t until the August of 1869 that races were held at the Ballybrit racecourse. During that time period, the races comprised of a two-day event. Over the years, changes were made to the races. The year 1999 saw the event take its present shape and extended into becoming a ten-day festival. As of now, the racecourse supports two grandstands built to world class standards. These grandstands are the Millennium Stand and the Killanin.
Thousands of spectators from all over the world line up to be a part of the Galway races. The most popular race in the seven-day festival is known as the Galway plate, which is held on a Wednesday. Horse racing fans place the plate as the world’s most thrilling and best steeplechases. A good 150 years have passed since the time this steeplechase began. The first horse ever to win this race was called The Absentee.
As the festival attracts thousands of fans from all over the world, the Galway races are integral to the tourism industry of the region. Along with this industry, numerous other small businesses profit from the yearly event. Local restaurants, shops and pubs generate considerable revenue during the week the races are run. Other than that, hotels and various accommodation facilities get jam packed with customers who are ardent horse racing fans as well as those who have come just to have a bit of fun. Therefore, the Galway races contribute significantly towards the economy of Galway city.
The Galway races have come to represent not only the horse races but also the festivities associated with it. With the advent of the tourists, many other entertainment outlets get ready to attract the crowd. Therefore, street entertainment forms an integral part of the seven-day festival. Among such entertainment forms, music plays a key role in keeping the spirits of the visitors and local residents up. Likewise, street theatre also contributes to the amusement of the guests of the Galway city.
Even though the recession took its toll on several industries of almost every country, the Galway horse racing festival did not suffer from it significantly. Gambling on the festival’s races thrived in the year 2010, the same year Ireland was going through a banking crisis. The money people spent on betting on the races amounted to millions of Euros. Similarly, the prize money of the festival was a robust figure of $1.5 million.
The popularity of the Galway races stems from the fact that they bring out life from almost all aspects of the city. The festival offers something to everyone, not just the horse racing fans.
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