IT will be interesting to see if the move to make Galway Plate day an evening meeting (5.10pm start) will produce an upturn in recent attendances. There is good reason to believe it will.

Three of the four most popular days at Galway last year were evening meetings. Granted, the most popular one was Thursday’s afternoon meeting but Thursday is Ladies Day, and Ladies Day is special. It’s always going to be the most popular with the more casual racegoer, particularly the younger brigade. Actually, in recent years the Ladies Day crowd probably has taken away from the Galway Plate crowd. If you have a choice of taking one day off work to go racing at Galway, you’re probably going to go on Ladies Day – 12,000+ people favoured this option last year.

Galway general manager Michael Moloney mentioned that one of the reasons to move Plate day to an evening slot was to facilitate local racegoers with the option to come racing after work. And this makes a lot of sense. The Galway Plate is arguably the biggest race of the week. It’s an iconic race and recently it’s been a very good one, despite the fact that it’s a handicap chase.

Three of the most recent five Plate winners have all gone on to win multiple Grade 1 races, including last year’s winner Balko Des Flos, who won the Ryanair Chase at Cheltenham in March. The Plate is usually a very exciting race as well, the double-jump before the straight and then the big long turn and run up the hill. It’s a race that deserves a big crowd.