Twelve days to the Races!

By JIM CARNEY BALLYBRIT is around the corner: Monday week, July 30 to Sunday August 5 â€â€ seven days of exciting horse-racing, ceol agus craic, a unique atmosphere, and a spectacular display of elegant, colourful fashion to match anything seen at Royal Ascot or the Kentucky Derby! You'll read elsewhere about the fashion highlight of the week: Ladies Day and the 10th anniversary of the Anthony Ryan's Best Dressed competition, judged this year by a panel chaired by former Miss World Rosanna Davison. For racing fans, especially those with a special interest in the centrepiece of the great Galway Races Summer Festival â€â€ the Galway Plate, with a history as far back as 1869 â€â€ there's a new development: Tote Ireland, sponsor of the big race, commissioned the National College of Art & Design (NCAD) to design and manufacture a new Galway Plate for the 2012 festival, to be presented to the winning owner. The design (pictured on right) is the creative work of a third year industrial design student from Dublin, Matthew Lynch, staying true to the origins of the original silver-plated design 'but with a modern look.' Over 150,000 punters are set to descend upon the famous racetrack at Ballybrit over the seven days of racing, with 52 sponsored races and a total prize fund of €1.6 million. On the first evening of racing, July 30, guests will include members of the Galway hurling team who made sporting history last Sunday week by winning the Leinster Championship for the first time since Galway entered that provincial competition, in 2009. Also on the first day, there will be a Ballybrit fundraiser in aid of the Special Olympics. The Tote Ireland Galway Plate on the Wednesday will have a prize fund of €200,000 and the main event on Thursday will again be the €260,000 Guinness Galway Handicap Hurdle, the richest National Hunt race to be run in Ireland this year