A spooky
picture of the Big-Top which I took after the concert
Despite arriving during the support act (Lisa
O'Neill) we managed to get a couple of decent seats in row three. It was a bit
like a festival enclosure with the all-seater Big-Top surrounded by various
food and drink outlets for ticket holders only. A splendid atmosphere.
On Saturday afternoon we had tickets for another
sold-out production: Beckett's famous "Waiting For Godot" staged in
the atmospheric Druid's Theatre. Superb production. The evening meal was booked
at Pearla na Mara (http://pearlanamara.ie/) where we had
enjoyed an excellent (halibut) dinner last year. This year's meal was to prove
just as good with perfectly cooked monkfish the "catch of the day"
this time. Of course we had to drink the Anne de Joyeuse Chardonnay with the
fish as a key part of the wine list description read: "combines perfectly with all kinds of fish,
especially monkfish”!
Sunday's cultural delight was a new play by Enda
Walsh called "Arlington" which was staged in the leisure centre in
Salthill a pleasant 30-minute promenade walk (2.5km) from the city centre.
The
promenade walk from Galway centre to the Salthill suburb
Rather a strange play as indeed was his
"Ballyturk" two years ago. As someone at my hotel said to me,
"Enda likes to baffle". They're not wrong there...
Two days' racing were ahead of us at the
Ballybrit track and the requirement was very much to remain focused. Once you
get into that punting atmosphere it's easy to get carried away. We had an edge,
we thought, in a couple of races and ideally that was what we should be
concentrating on.
Getting out to the track is easy enough. It's
about a 15-minute drive from the centre. A fleet of race busses depart from
Eyre Square starting around two hours before first race time. Adult return
ticket is nine euro. Monday/Tuesday entrance was priced at 20/25 euro but there
was a deal for students/seniors at a very reasonable10/15 euro. Compare and
contrast my local track Ludlow where seniors used to receive a voucher for a
cup of tea (!) but where there are no longer any relevant concessions. Entrance
plus racecard: Ludlow any day £22 all enclosures. Galway (seniors) Monday
£11.30, Tuesday £15.60 (at 1.15 exchange rate). I know where the value lies and
where I'd rather be!
Monday's card consisted of seven races
commencing at 17:15. It was race four that was of particular interest to us,
the seven-furlong handicap. Fifteen runners and three reserves. In the
early-price betting several bookmakers advertised 1/4 odds 1234. This was
misleading as no more than 15 would run and inevitably the ew settlement would
revert to 1/4 odds 123. I challenged the staff in both PP and Boyle Galway
shops on this. The PP manager admitted the advertising was misleading. The
Boyles chap initially claimed the terms were correct "at the moment"
but eventually agreed it was misleading. What made the situation even more
confusing was that PP shops ran a promo on this race last year in which they
promised to pay on the fourth place - irrespective of the number of runners. In
fact I backed Hat Alnasar ew with them (which finished fourth of the 14 runners
at 16/1) and was paid out. My friend had exactly the same bet in Boyles but
didn't get paid.
So on to our analysis of this year's race.
Readers of my previous articles about Galway races will have noted my comments
about the low draw bias in seven-furlong races. The favourite in Monday's
handicap was DK Weld's Heartful drawn 15/15. In his preview of the race in the
Racing Post the King of Ballybrit wrote that horses drawn 15/15 in
seven-furlong races cannot win. Ironically had he looked at last year's race result
he would have remembered that his runner drawn two finished second - to the
horse drawn 15/15! In any event his runner would be over bet and make the market.
The runners to concentrate on were Flowerhill Nova (drawn one) and Spruce
Meadows (two). They were not unfancied in this competitive handicap at 10/1 and
8/1 in the early price market.
What followed was one of the rare scenarios
where you run the race in your head, prior to the off, and the actual race
turns out much the same! Flowerhill Nova made a quick start to lead from the
one box and make most of the running - until two-furlongs out when Spruce
Meadows, who had been handy, came to collar him on the run-in. The favourite
(Heartful 7/2) tried to make ground on the outer, fading to finish 15th
of the 15…
Spruce
Meadows collars Flowerhill Nova on run to the line
Our two selections were well supported. The
winner’s SP was only 5/1 with the runner-up 8/1. Decent early bets on the
winner at 8/1 and copped the reverse forecast too. This was very much the main
event for us and other bets on the card were insignificant not affecting the
day’s profits.
The Tuesday followed a similar pattern: 17:15
start and seven races one of which was a seven-furlong handicap. This time the
field was 16-runners plus three reserves. So unlike Monday it seemed highly
likely that16 would line up. We backed the horses berthed in one and two again
– ew – but this time the favourite was drawn in four so much more likely to
play a part. I had a substantial ew bet on Chestnut Fire (one draw) at 16/1. It
was backed into 6/1 but could only finish sixth. I also backed Liberty Jack
(two) at 20/1 but he could only finish tenth at 14/1. Rather different to
yesterday’s result! In addition to the losing single bets, we had had some
forecast combination bets involving 1/2/3 draw (losers) plus some forecasts
with the favourite bankered (Beau Satchel, 11/4f drawn four) to beat 1/2/3
(losers) The favourite won with the first four home drawn 4/5/3/8: SPs 11/4,
16/1, 20/1, 10/1 (16 ran). So it looked like a betting blow-out with the first
& third placed forecast the closest to a return.
As we were walking back from the stands ruing
the narrow misses, I suddenly remembered I’d had a “throw away” tricast bet using
the favourite as a banker. This was Beau Satchel (drawn four) to win with the
horses drawn 1/2/3/5 to fill the places: total 12 bets @ 50p. Yes, 50p and a
£6.00 total stake. Here’s my receipt for your perusal:
So there we have it: £312.93 for 50p unit and consequently
a profit on the race. Our tote bets did not prove profitable overall for
Tuesday but the tricast return meant Tuesday losses were kept to a minimum.
Significant profit across the two days though thanks to Monday’s dream race. It
had been wet on Monday and even wetter on Tuesday but that had not dampened our
enthusiasm for the excellent entertainment at the track.
We had remained relatively focused however and
had been rewarded for (largely) sticking with what we knew best. Not quite
20/20 vision but as good as. We hoped to be back in Galway for this event:
Galway 2020
And hopefully all the Galway racing
festivals in between now and then….!!
Mike Quigley
August 2016
P.S. Wealth
warning: you
won’t do as well as this in every 7-f Galway handicap (as mentioned earlier 15/15 can
win!) and as the week went on and the ground worsened the remaining 7-f races
proved to be no good at all.