racing 6 April 2008
My Dad always loved the geegees. The only live meeting he went to regularly was Galway Race week, though he went to some racing in Gowran in Kilkenny once during the comedy festival, and he attended the Sligo meeting a few times. He’s buried in Sligo and can see the stand of the racecourse from his perch in the graveyard. For the Galway festival we had a special place to meet, in what was then the New Stand. If I fetched up without anyone knowing I always knew where to find the family watching a race. One year a bolt of lightening hit the stand while we were in it – quite thrilling and it smelled of fire and brimstone, I must report. Sometimes, if I was in away and saw a race from Galway on the tv I would try to spot my clan in the traditional spot. If you accompanied him there was no drinking till after the 4th race and then, if someone was doing well, we’d repair to the oyster tent and have a pint of Guinness and Angels on Horseback (cooked oysters wrapped in bacon) – delicious.
