WITH just about 10 days to go before the curtain rises on the five-day Punchestown Festival, excitement is building in many quarters.

Racegoers are in for a number of treats when they stream in their thousands through the turnstiles of the historic Co Kildare venue. The quality of racing is always high, but this year’s Festival is going to benefit from a targeted campaign by the big battalions of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, along with the best of the other trainers. Many Cheltenham heroes are set to reappear.

Richie Galway is happy and excited ahead of the week’s sport. “We are almost there and really looking forward to it. We have undertaken a full refurbishment of the grandstand facilities and are thrilled with the result. We cannot wait to open them to the public. We have spent €1.5 million upgrading and refurbishing existing facilities. I hope that racegoers will be impressed.”

This is just the start and immediately after this year’s Festival work will begin on a new €4 million grandstand which will be ready next year. Galway said: “Since I started in Punchestown [in 1998] this has been the most exciting time. I think the redevelopment work provides a huge opportunity for further growth, ending up with facilities that will provide an enhanced level of comfort for all of our racegoers.”

Galway believes that prizemoney is the key to improving the quality and competitiveness of the Irish racing product, and thanks to sterling work by Janet Creighton and the Punchestown team all of the races over the next five days are sponsored. “I think that any owner winning a race should cover the cost of training fees for the season. HRI have made great improvements in this regard and we are in a much better position than in Britain.

“We have 40 packages between race sponsorships, best-dressed, leading rider and trainer and so on, but we enjoy great support from the industry and from the local business community. We work very hard to retain long-term partnerships with our sponsors.”

Galway is keen to stress the team element of Punchestown, a key to its success. This includes the ‘sold out’ sign about to be put up for hospitality packages, while advance ticket sales are well ahead of last year, though tickets can still be purchased on the day. Shona Dreaper has worked tirelessly to entice overseas runners and ITM make sure they are well looked after when they are here. Galway expects that some 50 runners from Britain will materialise.

A vital ingredient at the Festival is providing the best ground possible and Galway acknowledges the work of the team entrusted with this task. “We aim for ground on the slow side of good. Jim Ryan has created a niche with his irrigation system for Irish racetracks, which started in Punchestown many years ago. He has great experience and knows exactly what is required at this stage.

“His son Sean is our foreman and he takes personal pride in the job. We can water if necessary and we are at the mercy of the weather gods. Our team did miraculous work to get us through the 2012 Festival when we had rain of biblical proportions. I hope we never see that again.”

Galway enjoys his role and the responsibility that goes with working at such an iconic venue. “It’s a privilege. I have been lucky to work with some great people. It’s a special place. It becomes very personal for anyone of us that has worked here. I think we are also very lucky to live and work in an era when National Hunt racing in this country is in such rude health.”