UK bookmaker Ladbrokes will be among the sponsors of the Saturday meeting at the launch of the Galway Races Summer Festival 2011 at the end of July. Ladbrokes will operate the two betting offices on-site at Ballybrit, and have underwritten six of the seven races on the Saturday card.
The Galway Races is an Irish horse-racing festival that starts on the last Monday of July every year. The event is held at Ballybrit race course in Galway, Ireland over seven days and it is the longest of all the race meets that occur in Ireland.
The penultimate afternoon of the week-long festival, which begins Monday July 25th and runs until Sunday July 31st, is being designated as ‘Ladbrokes Red Day’ and features the €70,000 Ladbrokes ‘Biggest Names Best Prices’ Handicap and the €40,000 Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle.
“We’re very much looking forward to this year’s festival and are delighted to be building our association with what has become one of the main highlights of the Summer,” said Joe Lewins, managing director of Ladbrokes Ireland in the press release. “We are committed to supporting Irish racing and we have a number of plans underway that we feel will contribute to making the week even more spectacular.”
Currently, all 52 races scheduled this year by the Galway Race Committee for the Ballybrit course are sponsored and the total prize fund is €1.6m.
The busiest days of the festival are Wednesday, when the Galway Plate is held, and Thursday, when the Galway Hurdle and Ladies’ Day take place. Already, UK trainers Ian Williams (Invisible Man) and Nicky Henderson (Aigle D’Or) have made entries for the Plate.
