To some the betting ring can be a sweaty cauldron of the desperate and the vulturous, to others it can be their very reason for existence. Whatever your attitude to the betting scene, it is unquestionably alive and well and will be particularly vibrant during the upcoming Galway race week. The festival may be promoting itself with the motto "Your heart is racing", but nowhere does the pulse dip and soar more than in the heaving mass of the Galway betting ring.
It's no exaggeration to say that an outsider who judged the state of racing in Ireland purely on this week could only conclude that the locals are a nation of wealthy spendthrifts intent on redistributing that wealth with the enthusiasm of blue-eyed innocents. If only. There may be blue eyes at Galway, but naivety will be harder to find than those same blue eyes in a Sahara dust storm.
It's also no exaggeration to say that Irish racing depends on that Galway betting ring.
Of the 42 races run at the festival last year, the lowest amount bet on any one of the 42 was over £54,000. The highest was almost £244,000. For a sport so dependant on the 5 per cent Government levy which is taken on all bets, Galway is a godsend. Of the total of £76 million bet with bookmakers last year, nearly 8 per cent was generated during Galway's six days. Take that away and you are left with an industry in urgent need of a rub of a relic. Nobody is more aware of that than the bookmakers. If anyone is at the hub of this week, it is the 93 bookies who will be in attendance. They may have been once famously described as pickpockets who don't have to use their hands, but they are also the prey for the thousands intent on emptying their bags. This is prey, however, which does not mind being tethered to its boxes. At Galway, the hunter usually becomes the hunted.
For Brian Graham, son of the founder of his firm, Sean Graham, and one of the best known bookies in the country, Galway is a simple test of his and every bookmaker's professionalism. His attitude is simple: If a bookie can't make it pay at Galway, then he should consider another line of work.
"If a bookmaker doesn't win there, then he will be in trouble for the rest of the year, or if not in trouble, he certainly won't have any cream." Which is not to say that the punter can't win. Sheer volume, however, puts the odds heavily in the bookies' favour.
"Not one bookmaker will tell you he has won on every one of the six days, but with 42 competitive races, there would be something wrong if a bookmaker doesn't make his percentage," Graham adds.
Calculating percentages is the bookmakers' art and with the level of money that will circulate at Galway, the calculations have to be accurate. Last year, a colossal £1,215,416 was wagered with bookmakers on Galway Hurdle day alone and that figure is odds on to be up this time around.
"At Galway, I know that the amount of money circulating in the ring will allow me to lay double what I would anywhere else. At the likes of Ballinrobe, I could lay somebody to lose £2,000 and not get to see that kind of money for the rest of the night. If a big player wants to put £100,000 on an even-money shot at Galway, he will get it on because the market there can sustain it. Some of the big gamblers aren't around anymore, but even so, the figures are still going up," Graham says.
Such colossal gambles are facilitated because bookies can layoff their liabilities into a vibrant market, but also because of the competition factor. Non-triers are a rare breed at Galway; what's the point, most of them are trained for the festival. However, things are not always straightforward for the bookmaker.
"It certainly isn't a case of putting chalk on the board and opening the bag," Graham grins. "Life Of A Lord winning the 'Plate last year was an atrocious result for us and General Idea when he won the 'Plate was another one. We lost up to six figures on that race. You just have to take it on the chin."
The trick, however, for the bookmaker is not to leave the racecourse reeling like a punch-drunk boxer. To that end, preparation is everything. During this week, Graham and every other bookmaker will have more or less figured out their opening prices for the following day's racing before that day's activity has even started. Keeping one step ahead is important.
"It's a fact that horses are laid out for Galway, which is hard to figure out sometimes. For instance, everyone in the country seemed to see a two-year-old at Naas a couple of weeks ago having an easy run in preparation for Galway. That horse will start at 4/6 when he runs and you could have had 5/1 at Naas, so what's the point?" Graham argues.
Maybe the answer is the unique magic of having a Galway winner and while the bookmaker has to look at racing with a strictly profit-and-loss outlook, it's hard not to believe the Ballybrit track provides something different.
"I actually find Galway quite relaxing. There are no airs and graces, no £5,000 private boxes, no enclosures. If someone wants a bet, he has to plough through the crowd like everyone else," says Graham. Whether the hub of the betting ring really is a sweaty cauldron or a ring of dreams, it will be difficult not to charge into it at some stage this week. After all, the bookmaker can't keep on winning, can he?
