Mixed meetings will return to Galway in 2022 says racecourse chief Moloney

Galway chief executive Michael Moloney is adamant mixed meetings will return for the 2022 summer festival at Ballybrit and Horse Racing Ireland will allow that to happen.

Due to Covid-19 regulations not permitting mixed meetings, there were three National Hunt fixtures in a row on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week with the other four days hosting Flat action.

That approach is not something Moloney wants to adopt permanently and is keen for the traditional festival running order to return next year, provided Covid-19 is not still hampering his plans.

Moloney told the Racing Post: "We will be going back to mixed meetings, definitely. Galway is all about mixed cards and people come to the festival for that reason. There are seven days where people want to come for both jumps and Flat. It is one of the reasons our crowds have been so good over the years is because of mixed meetings.

"It's one of our main selling points and to move away from that would be detrimental."

Galway chief Michael Moloney: 'We will be going back to mixed meetings, definitely'Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

HRI's director of racing Jason Morris also suggested mixed meetings will return for the 2022 summer festival.

Morris said: "When we originally did the fixture list for this year we had Galway down for mixed meetings, but that obviously changed because of the lack of crowds. I would assume that Galway will be reverting back to mixed meetings next year.

"We have tried to move things away from single-day mixed meetings, but Galway is obviously a bit different. We will work with the racecourse to try and maximise their commercial aspirations. We would support a return to mixed meetings and assume that would be the case for next year."

Reflecting on last week's meeting as a whole, Moloney felt the track played the hand they were dealt in the best possible fashion given the crowds each day were capped at 1,000.

Moloney said: "There was actually a nice buzz around the place and perhaps more of a buzz that I envisaged beforehand.

"It was obviously disappointing that we couldn't welcome a few more in, but the feedback we received from racegoers who attended was very positive. Anybody who attended seemed to enjoy themselves and that was the most important thing."

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