Relaxed racegoers take it easy on the champagne

AFTER a long week of hats and high heels, winners and losers and champagne by the bucket load, yesterday was a far more relaxed affair in Ballybrit.

After the madness of Ladies’ Day, having to elbow your way through 45,000 people to give away your money to a bookie, racegoers were yesterday free to ramble around in a busy yet more manageable day of racing.

The last three days of the festival are usually when locals come out for a flutter and a drink after a week of slaving for a wage.

Ballybrit staff were also looking happy to see the back of the mayhem. The champagne tent, filled to bursting point for Ladies’ Day, was barely occupied on Friday and the weary staff were free to engage in a bit of banter with each other.

Tips of the monetary kind, however, were in short supply, despite champagne bottles ranging in price between €65 and €110 being bought by the wheelbarrow load.

“It must be the recession kicking in. I’ve gotten nothing in the way of tips. I suppose people don’t have the money to spare anymore. I’ve had a few winners though so I can’t complain,” said one worker.

If champagne was a bit out of your league in the price department, more reasonable fare could be had in the Guinness and Budweiser tents. A pint of Guinness was fairly priced at €4.20, and if you fancied a dozen oysters with your pint, you had to shell out just €13.

Budweiser was a little more expensive at €5 and if you felt the need for a exotic drink in a cloudy Galway, a mojito could be had for the same price.

Despite the wads of cash being gambled for fun, 15 of the best jockeys in the business, including the likes of Barry Geraghty, Paul Carberry and Davy Russell, were also out mingling with the crowds, armed with buckets to help raise money for Goal’s relief work in the Horn of Africa.

Despite being hounded for tips by eager punters, Barry Geraghty said he was more than happy to shake a bucket for the charity.

“It’s really terrible to see how the famine has affected the people of Africa, so myself and about 15 other jockeys are doing a bucket collection after the third race,” he said.

“ I’m sure the racegoers will give us plenty of support and donations.”

Some of the bookies felt in need of a whip-around of their own as Dermot Weld broke his own record of 11 winners and the hearts of the bookies by taking the first race of the day in style with Rainforest Magic. Hayley O’Connor of Ladbrokes aptly summed up the mood of bookies as the week draws to close. Down but not out.

“Punters have definitely won the battle, but we are hoping they haven’t won the war just yet,” she said.

They might be among the few happy to see the back of Galway come tomorrow.