Galway Racecourse has announced a new three-year partnership with the Connacht Hospitality Group for the support of the popular Best Dressed Lady and Best Hat competitions that take place on Thursday 28th July, ‘Guinness Galway Hurdle Day’ during the seven-day Summer Festival.
The Best Dressed Lady competition will now carry a €10,000 cash prize and there will be a €3,000 prize for the winner of the Best Hat.
We feel sure that there will be a Best Dressed Man competition to run alongside, even if not with quite the same scale of prizes.
Based in Galway City, the Connacht Hospitality Group is a family-run Galway business that comprises of three hotels – The Connacht Hotel, Hyde Hotel and The Residence Hotel – three bars – the Hyde Bar, An Púcán and 1520 Bar – Galway Bay Golf Resort and Active 24 Fitness.
The competition on the day will be judged by stylist Mandy Maher who said she “can’t wait to see all the glamour and style back at Ballybrit.”
“This is by far our best Ladies Day prize yet,” said Galway Racecourse Manager Michael Moloney.
“Having carried out a lot of research and getting feedback from our customers, we wanted to come back this Summer with a massive attractive prize, and what better reward than cash. This Summer we’re really excited to welcome back our racegoers and have been working to ensure that the Ladies Day experience for our guests will be better than ever.”
“Ladies Day is our most stylish day of the festival and we’ve made welcome changes to the day itself, including lengthening the time you have to enter the competition, moving the completion time for judging from 1 pm to 3 pm to give people a chance to make their way to the course and relax and enjoy themselves, while also introducing a pre-registration for ladies who might not get spotted on the day but still want to enter the competition. They can now enter the morning of Ladies Day online via our website, and upload their outfit details together with a photograph.”
“We’re delighted to have the team from the Connacht Hospitality Group on board. They’re innovative, focused on the customer experience and have their finger on the pulse. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner for this event. We’re thrilled. Lots to look forward to. Watch this space.”
“This is such an exciting partnership for us,” added Eveanna Ryan, Director and Sales and Marketing for the Connacht Hospitality Group.
“The Connacht Hotel has always been synonymous with the Monday racing for a number of years with our continued sponsorship of the QR handicap, but this partnership will give us the opportunity to showcase the entire group.”
“We could not ask for a better team to work with than Michael, Sinéad and the team at the Galway Races and we are really looking forward to this year’s festival.”
Widely regarded as the highlight of the Summer Season in Ireland, the Galway Races takes place from Monday 25th to Sunday 31st July.
