Published: Friday, 1st August, 2008 12:00pm

Ferbane punters continue Galway races tradition

Some call it one of the highlights of Ireland"s sporting calendar, others call it the highlight of Ireland"s social calendar where the little bit of sporting action in the background is nothing more than decoration. Whatever your thoughts on the Galway races, it remains hugely popular, with as many as 12,000 Offaly people expected to have been in attendance in Ballybrit for at least one day of the festival by the end of the week.

Tonight"s evening meeting and two afternoon cards on Saturday and Sunday remain, but whether you"re a casual visitor who chooses to wander down on your day off or a hardened regular who makes the pilgrimage every year, the popularity of the racing and the whole Galway scene remains undimmed.

One tradition running almost as long as the races itself is the annual bus trip from Hiney"s Pub in Ferbane, a trip that veterans of the circuit would tell you is more demanding than any number of laps of the Ballybrit course!

Galway Plate day on Wednesday was the day chosen for the excursion this year and the general verdict was that a profitable day was had all round, with Plate winner Oslot and the Dermot Weld trained Directa King in the previous race responsible for the bulk of the winnings. Directa King was steered home by Rhode born jockey Pat Smullen, though the Smullen-Weld combination was responsible for a big chunk of the winnings going back into the bookies" satchels when they failed to oblige at 11/10 in the last race, losing out by almost five lengths to Amarama, ridden by Willie Supple.

One regular on the tour who identified himself to the "Offaly Independent" as 'The Original Patsy' summed up the day out for most of the thirty-eight racegoers when he said: 'I had a good day, I had a couple of winners. I certainly came out up on my betting for the day. I wouldn"t say it was enough to pay for the whole day mind, sure you know what the Ferbane crowd are like - you"d want to be winning hundreds to pay for that kind of day out!'

Damien Spollen, bar manager of Hiney"s and organiser of the outing, summed up why the Galway Races is such an institution all across Ireland and indeed in rural towns like Ferbane. 'The weather was good, the racing was good, the betting was good and the craic was great - sure what more could you want?'

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