THERE are ups and downs in all walks of life but even more so in a seven-day, 52-race, €2 million racing festival. Ideally you want more ups than downs but, on the other hand, some ups are negative and some downs are positive. Let’s start with a positive.

The quality of racing went up. It continues to go up. You had to be rated 132 to get a run in the Galway Hurdle and 137 in the Galway Plate. Ten years ago Liam Burke’s Sir Frederick won the Plate off a mark of 126 in a race where 123-rated horses got a run. At the same festival you only had to be on 117 to get a run in the Galway Hurdle, which was won by the 130-rated Pat Hughes’ Farmer Brown who carried 10st 11lbs. Neither Sir Frederick nor Farmer Brown would have been good enough to get into the said races this year.

Total attendance was down. But only just. In fact attendances were up for Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. And the total attendance most likely would have been up had it not been for the Galway hurlers drawing the attention from the locals – who usually provide the largest chunk of the weekend attendance – on Sunday. The popularity of the evening meetings continues to be strong, with another notable surge in attendance on Friday, a much more popular day than Wednesday.

Prize money went up. Way up to €2 million. Every race was worth at least €15,000, with feature races on each day worth at least €100,000. The Galway Plate was worth €250,000 and the Galway Hurdle again had €300,000 up for grabs. This has undoubtedly attracted owners and trainers, particularly in the National Hunt code, to send some of their best to Ballybrit.

HARSH REMINDER

Bookmaker and Tote turnover went down. Not exactly a surprise and another harsh reminder of a seemingly unstoppable decline. Bookmaker’s turnover dropped over €641,034 and the Tote’s was down €458,141. Given the attendance numbers were only very slightly down on last year, a straight comparison in figures suggests there is another factor at play here. It’s hard not to point the finger at online, on-the-phone betting and it’s even harder to come up with a solution to the problem.

Willie Mullins’ influence on the festival went up. The champion National Hunt trainer knocked in 12 winners, three of which came in feature flat races.

Dermot Weld’s influence on the festival went down. Just the two winners sent out from the man who has so often made Ballybrit his own. He’ll be back next year and it’ll be a short price he takes a bigger haul but Mullins has had a feel for Galway dominance and that spells danger for his rivals.

Traffic levels coming in and out of the course came down. Parking procedures worked well, with organisers winning plenty of praise plus more people used public transport.

Going forward, the long Tote building adjacent to the betting ring will come down and brand new €6 million building with betting, food and drink facilities will go up.

Finally, The rain came down but the sun did come up. But we knew that would happen, at least the rain part anyway.