Galway Bay fm newsroom - Attendance and betting at Day 3 of the Galway Racing Festival were slightly down on last year.
A crowd of 17,332 gathered at Ballybrit for Galway Plate Day – 726 less than 2016.
The Tote turnover yesterday finished at 953 thousand euro – down 28 thousand euro on last year.
Betting with the bookmakers was also down, with the total of 1.24 million down 182 thousand euro.
The downpour just before the big race, the Galway Plate, meant that many punters were unable to get their bets on as they had to shelter from the rain.
The Tote Galway Plate was won by Balko Des Flos owned by Ryanair's Michael O' Leary.
Among the crowd braving the elements at Ballybrit were President Michael D Higgins and golfer Shane Lowry.
Today is Guinness Galway Hurdle day but the focus will also be firmly on fashion with the G Hotel Best Dressed Ladies Competition.
The first race goes to post at 1.40 this afternoon, and we’ll be bringing you all the racing action live here on Galway Bay fm.
