Galway Races 2024 - Horse Racing Betting in Ireland

What Are The Big Races, And Who Should I Bet On? 

The two major feature races during the week are the Tote Galway Plate Chase and the Guinness Galway Hurdle. Both contests are highly competitive and prestigious handicaps, with trainers plotting out their runners for the contest a long time in advance. 

On Wednesday 27th July, the Tote Galway Plate, worth €250,000, will be the highlight of the card. The historic race, first run in 1869, is contested over two miles, six furlongs and 111 yards. 

Before Royal Rendezvous was the winner in 2021, you had to go back to Ansar in 2005 to find a horse that carried more than 11 stones to victory. So history tells us that it often pays to keep tabs on those towards the bottom of the weights. 

Indeed, Ansar won the race for a second successive time in 2005, while Royal Rendezvous won the race with a taking performance after finishing runner-up in 2020. So it is often worth paying attention to those with good experiences in the race. 

It is also worth noting that despite the wide-open nature of the race, it has paid to follow the market in recent years. Royal Rendezvous (5/1), Early Doors (7/1) and Borice (9/1) all went off single-figure prices. 

Moving onto the Guinness Galway Handicap Hurdle, the simple advice is to follow the Mullins family. Patrick Mullins, the son of his father Willie, has ridden three of the last four winners of the race, an incredible feat for an amateur jockey. 

In 2018 Sharjah (12/1) carried top-weight to win the race in muddy conditions. A couple of years later Aramon (7/1), also top-weight, won in the hands of Patrick before finally, Saldier (18/1) won it in style in 2021 wearing the number one. In sum, unlike the Plate, it has paid to go with the classier types in this race despite them carrying heavy weights. 

Other races to look out for at the Galway Races Summer Festival include the Connacht Hotel (Q.R.) Handicap run on Monday, and the Colm Quinn BMW MileHandicap run on Tuesday.

Trainers to follow

In 2015, Weld remarkably scooped the Galway Festival's top trainer gong for the 29th time in the previous 30 years. Since then, national hunt king Willie Mullins has become a dominant force at the track. 

Other trainers for fans to watch at the meeting include Tony Martin. Despite not being one of the biggest trainers in the country, Martin often targets his horses at Galway's big handicaps. Between 2014 and 2019, he had a hat-trick of winners of the Galway Hurdle Handicap with Thomas Edison (2014), Quick Jack (2015) and Tudor City (2019).

Summer ground horses

Aside from trainers, it often pays to look out for horses who enjoy some summer ground. Pay attention to those horses who tend to struggle during the heavy ground of the winter months but come alive on a sounder surface.

For instance, in the handicap races, a horse's recent form may look below average going into the race, but the horse could have been running on unsuitable ground. If a horse runs out of the frame, the handicapper will often try to give them a better chance on their next run by reducing their handicap mark, meaning they will have to carry less weight relative to their rivals' next time out. 

The Odds

Simply put: the odds are the expected probability of something happening. If a bookmaker prices a horse at 3/1, it means that they think that 1 in 4 times the horse will win the race. If the horse is 5/1, they think it will win 1 in 6 times. 

The odds tell punters how much they will make if their horse wins the race. So, for example, let's say we stake a €10 bet on a horse with odds of 5/1. These odds tell the punter that for every €1 they stake on this horse, if it wins the race, they will win €5. So, if they put €10 on this winning horse, they will win €50 (€10 x 5) while they will also get their stake back. 

If someone exclaims that they had a 100/1 winner, it means that for every €1 they put on the horse, they won €100! This fractional odds format is the most commonly used in Irish horse racing. There is also the Decimal and American format, which present the odds differently but use the same principles. 

Lucky Jim wins the race: 

The €5 'win bet' you placed means your profit from this part of the bet is €40 (€5 @8/1). You also won the 'placed bet' of the bet as your horse finished in the top three. However, there was a greater probability of Lucky Jim finishing in the top three than winning the race, so you get shorter odds for the place part of the bet. In this case, you get a quarter of 8/1 which is 2/1. Therefore, for the place part of the bet, your profit is €10 (€5 @ 2/1). 

In total, then, for the each-way bet, your profit is €50 (€40 from the 'win bet' and €10 from the 'place bet'). Plus, you are also given your stake back of €10. 

Lucky Jim finishes 2nd or 3rd:

The bad news is that you lose the stake from your €5 'win bet' as the horse failed to win the race. The good news is that you won the €5 'place bet' as Lucky Jim was placed i.e. he finished in the top three. 

As above, you get a quarter of 8/1, which is 2/1. Therefore, for the place part of the bet your profit is €10 (€5 @ 2/1). It breaks down as follows:

Lucky Jim finishes outside the top three: 

This is the worst result. You have lost both the 'win bet' and 'place bet'. You have lost the 'win bet' because Lucky Jim didn't win the race and the 'place bet' because Lucky Jim did not finish in 1st, 2nd or 3rd. 

In total, you have lost €10 on the bet.