Betting shop the only escape from madding crowd

The buzz was back in Ballybrit yesterday afternoon.

It wasn’t the featured Galway Hurdle and it wasn’t the weather. It was Ladies’ Day — the highlight of the week for much of the female sorority — and all of the male fraternity. It remains the best supported meeting of the week and the Galway glamour girls were out in force, as usual.

In recent times, the gentlemen have been making the effort to emulate their ladies but the economic downturn would appear to have affected them more than their fair maidens. Admiring all the sartorial splendour, one bookmaker suggested that he, his clerks and his runners would be declaring cheekpieces in advance of next year’s Galway Hurdle Day — just to keep their minds on the job. Perhaps there’s an opening there for some corporate sponsorship.