Raincoats, rugby stars and some elegant rags kick-start Ballybrit bash

DESPITE the west’s usual rain and wind, thousands turned out in style for the opening day of the Galway Races.

Rarely a week goes by in the City of the Tribes without some sort of festival drawing names and faces from every walk of Irish life and the Ballybrit bash is the biggest one of them all.

Opening day in Galway is traditionally a day for locals to come out and enjoy a flutter. Despite the straightened times, Monday drew a healthy crowd with raincoat-clad punters mixing with the sartorial elegance of the ladies who were putting in the ground work for the best dressed competition on Thursday.