The Irish Examiner View: the Galway Races show goes on behind closed doors

Princess Zoe ridden by Finian Maguire wins the Connacht Hotel (Q.R.) Handicap (70-100) during day one of the 2020 Galway Races Summer Festival at Galway Racecourse. PA Photo. Picture date: Monday July 27, 2020. See PA story RACING Galway. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The punters, the owners, the bookies, and the razzmatazz were all missing as one of the biggest and most social events on Ireland’s sporting calendar got off to an eerily quiet start behind closed doors at Ballybrit yesterday. Yet the show at Galway Races still goes on.

The harsh reality of what the ‘new normal’ looks like hits home with particular force this week as Galway counts the cost of losing not just 130,000 racegoers but the bustling crowds who should have been there for the International Arts Festival and Film Fleadh, not to mention to celebrate the city’s status as 2020 European Capital of Culture.