Ballybrit Race Track, also known as Galway Racecourse, is a horse

race course A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is located in the

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

of Ballybrit, in the environs of Castlegar, just north of the N6 Bóthar na dTreabh, c.6 km northeast of

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

city. The track has two stands, the Main, or Killanin Stand and Millennium Stand. The seven-day

Galway Races The Galway Races (Irish language, Irish: ''Rásaí na Gaillimhe'') is an Ireland, Irish horse-racing festival that starts on the last Monday of July every year. Held at Ballybrit Racecourse in Galway, Ireland over seven days, it is one of the ...

Festival are held there every August. Other meetings are held here in September (2 days), early October (1 day) and over the last weekend in October (3 days).

Course information

Ballybrit is a right-handed course of about one mile and three furlongs, with a steep decline into the dip where the last two fences are situated. There is a sharp incline to the finish line. The Millennium Stand replaced the (then main) Corrib stand in 1999. The Corrib was thought to have the longest

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in the world. The Main, Killanin or West stand was opened in 2007. Its terrace can hold 7,000 people, including seating for 700. It replaced a previous West stand constructed in 1972. In November 2024, the course received permission from

An Bord Pleanála (; meaning "The Planning Board"; ABP) is an independent, statutory, quasi-judicial body that decides on appeals from planning decisions made by local authorities in Ireland. As of 2007, An Bord Pleanála directly decided major strategic infra ...

for the addition of new temporary stables and ancillary buildings. Permission would become permanent pending the finalisation of the plans for the Galway City Ring Road.

History

The first meeting was held in 1869. As part of his visit to Ireland in 1979,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

celebrated mass at the racecourse for two hundred and eighty thousand people. The then

Mayor of Galway The office of Mayor of Galway is an honorific title used by the of Galway City Council. The council has jurisdiction throughout its administrative area of the city of Galway which is the largest city in the province of Connacht, in Ireland. Th ...

Michéal Ó hUiginn Michéal Ó hUiginn (born 1942) was the Mayor of Galway on three separate occasions: from 1972–1973, 1979–1980, and 1995–1996. Ó hUiginn's family were based on Father Griffin Road, on the west bank of the River Corrib, Corr ...

, conferred the Freedom of Galway upon the Pontiff. In 2021, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland may refer to: * COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland, the sovereign state * COVID-19 pandemic in Northern Ireland The COVID-19 pandemic reached Northern Ireland in February 2020. At the start of the first ...

, the racecourse was used as a

mass vaccination Mass vaccination is a public policy effort to vaccination, vaccinate a large number of people, possibly the entire World population, population of the world or of a country or region, within a short period of time. This policy may be directed duri ...

centre.

Notable races

References

External links

* {{coord, 53.298, -8.997, region:IE_type:landmark, display=title Horse racing venues in the Republic of Ireland Sports venues in County Galway Sports venues completed in 1869 1869 establishments in Ireland