The team at Ballybrit are known for their forward thinking vision. After all they have managed to transform what began as a small two-day event in 1869 into one of the biggest seven day racing extravaganzas in the world.
Now trainers and jockeys making their way to the famous July meeting in Ballybrit can be ensured the distances of the races are literally to the exact yard. Over the past number of months the track has been professionally surveyed and re-measured in an effort to provide greater accuracy of race distances at Galway.
Previously the track was measured using a surveyor’s wheel; however with numerous changes in recent years, a new methodology has been agreed with race distances now being measured along the position of the innermost running rail and professionally surveyed to the nearest yard. As a result of this there will be a number of changes to race distances at Galway and these will be implemented for the upcoming Summer Festival.
These baseline distances are measured on the innermost racing line and Galway will now be in a position to provide additional information on the morning of a race day as to the additional yardage in a particular race due to the movement of the running rail on that day. This information will be made available through Galway’s own website galwayraces.com and also through Horse Racing Ireland’s Racing Administration Service website hri-racing.ie
The Galway Races Summer Festival Meeting will of course take place from Monday July 27 to Sunday August 2, for more information or to book tickets, visit galwayraces.com
We are super excited already!
