'The crowds were up and the buzz was brilliant' - Galway boss hails seven-day festival a huge success

Galway manager Michael Moloney has hailed a wonderful week at Ballybrit and said the overall crowd figure of 122,362, up 5,642 on last year, might have been even bigger had the weather played ball on Friday evening. 

The biggest day crowd-wise was 25,924 on Thursday's ladies' day when Zarak The Brave became only the second four-year-old in four decades to win the Galway Hurdle.

Moloney said he has a long list of minor tweaks he would like to make for next year, all of which will be discussed when the dust settles on a week in which Willie Mullins ended the festival as leading trainer with ten winners. Dylan Browne McMonagle was leading Flat rider with five winners, while Paul Townend took the jumps title with four. 

Moloney said: "It was a great week. We prepared for a great week and that's exactly what we got. There were positives on all fronts, especially the crowds which were well up on last year, and there was a brilliant buzz around the place on all seven days I thought. 

Michael Moloney: "always looking to improve on things year after year"Credit: Ray Ryan

"It was a huge success and we would have been up more on the crowd front had we had better weather on the Friday. It was the second year in a row we've had a wet Friday and that is the one day where there is great scope to grow our attendance. 

"But, overall I'm very happy and the whole team here has played a blinder. There are so many moving parts from the guys working on the track to those working in the racecourse and everyone worked tirelessly to ensure the week went smoothly.

He added: "I know Willie had ten winners but there was a great spread of winning trainers among the smaller stables too and that's always great to see."

Moloney added: "I have a long list in minor tweaks that we will discuss going forward, maybe even as many as 20 or 30, and we're always looking to improve on things year after year."

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