A SLIGHT increase of 4% in betting ring turnover across the opening four days of the Galway Festival has been described by leading layer Ray Mulvaney as a fair reflection of his own trade at the meeting so far.

Crowds at the Ballybrit bonanza rallied and were up by just shy of 8% over the first four meetings compared to the same days last year.

Mulvaney, who is also Irish National Professional Bookmakers Association chairman, felt better weather would have led to stronger returns in the ring but, on the whole, was upbeat about the level of trade, which tallied at €4,268,505 for the first four days this year (from €4,109,014 over the same period in 2022).

“My business would have been generally reflective of the overall ring figures over the first four days,” Mulvaney told The Irish Field.

“I thought the crowd was phenomenal on Monday and felt we could have been looking at a bumper Galway after seeing the number of people who came through the gates on the opening night.

Solid turnover

“Unfortunately it was just a little bit damp on the Tuesday with the weather but, generally speaking, turnover has been good. I felt Thursday was solid and it was great to see some old faces back in the ring. I think the team have done a good job at Galway, Michael Moloney and his team deserve credit.”

Across the opening 29 races of the meeting, there were 12 successful favourites or joint-favourites, with eight other races won by horses ranging from 12/1 to 66/1.

As for the feature National Hunt races, both the Plate and Hurdle were won by second-favourites at 13/2 and 9/2 respectively.

“When the first four favourites won on the Monday and I was wondering if we were set for a bad meeting,” said Mulvaney.

“With the volume of business around, though, I felt any sort of decent result would help to get my money back. That’s what ended up happening. I didn’t win or lose on the opening evening.

Brave punters

“Runners at short enough prices often win the Galway Hurdle and Zarak The Brave was obviously one of the leading fancies this year. We had lots of business on that race - there were numerous horses we took bets of €1,000 each-way on. Turnover was strong.

“Dermot Weld had a double on the Tuesday but the market support for his horses in general isn’t as big as was the case in years gone by.

“Willie Mullins’ horses now seem to be a go-to for plenty of people coming to Galway.”

Asked for his best result over the first four days, Mulvaney said: “It’s no great surprise that Minella Mate winning the qualified riders’ maiden at 66/1 on Wednesday was a big result for us [when beating 4/9 favourite Up And Under]. Mars Harper’s win in the beginners’ chase on Thursday was another very good result, with plenty of bets taken on other horses in that race.”

What about his worst result of the week so far?

“The Galway Hurdle was tough for us with the big each-way bets that were landed,” Mulvaney said. “We laid plenty of them well and unfortunately we didn’t get a good result but that’s racing.”