Prize money at this year’s Galway races Festival has broken through a new record level of €2,000,000. With fifty-two races over the seven days, each day now offers a minimum prize fund of €100,000 for the feature race.
The overall prize fund has been increased by €123,000 on last year’s Festival. The Galway Races takes place from Monday 31st July to Sunday 6th August.
One of the feature races of the week is thetote.com Galway Plate on Wednesday, a race synonymous with Galway and key to the history of the Festival. It has been boosted with a significant increase of €30,000 so that the prize fund for 2017 now stands at €250,000.
“We are delighted that the historical thetote.com Galway Plate will this year be worth €250,000, an increase of €30,000 on last year’s race value,” said Tim Higgins, Chief Executive of Tote Ireland.
“The race has a long, proud tradition at the heart of Irish racing so it’s great news. The race is always a thrilling one and the quality of the race really stands up especially when you look at the most recent winners.”
With a strong association at the Festival for many years, Guinness are once again title sponsors on Thursday and Friday with the Guinness Galway Hurdle, worth an impressive €300,000, a race that draws huge attention on the day traditionally referred to as Ladies Day.
Friday features the Guinness Handicap valued at €100,000.
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Monday’s feature the Connacht Hotel Handicap of €100,000 with Tuesday’s feature race the Colm Quinn BMW Mile Handicap valued at €120,000.
Looking towards the weekend, Saturday’s Galway Shopping Centre Handicap Hurdle and Sunday’s Irish Stallion Farms EBF “Ahonoora” Handicap are each worth €100,000.
“It’s a huge credit to our sponsors and Horse Racing Ireland who with their support have enabled us to offer for the very first time a feature race every day valued at a minimum of €100,000,” said Galway races General Manager Michael Moloney.
“It is also particularly pleasing to see the minimum race value of every race during the Festival set at €15,000.”
“We have an exciting programme on the cards for 2017 and we look forward to offering some great racing and entertainment here in Galway during the Festival.”
“Horse racing Ireland is pleased to be supporting the Galway Festival with an increased prize money contribution to match the additional race sponsorship that the racecourse has been able to attract,” said HRI Racing Director Jason Morris.
“It is very satisfying that the minimum value for all feature races at the Festival has been increased to €100,000 for 2017. Prize money has risen significantly at the Galway Festival in recent years and it is only appropriate that winners at Ballybrit are adequately rewarded at all levels given the extremely competitive nature of the racing.”
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