Fashion and fillies collide as diehard racegoer wears Galway Plate upon her head

The style takes centre stage for the most part on Galway Racecourse, but Wednesday feels more a day for the racing and the racing alone with the running of the Galway Plate race, the jewel in Ballybrit’s crown.

It is the most iconic and best-loved of Galway’s races, with a history going all the way back to the first ever meet in August 1869.

One punter told the Irish Independent “they could run the Galway Plate at 10 o’clock in the morning in the pouring rain and every one of us would still be here.”

And there was plenty of excitement for the big race itself, with Gordon Elliott’s Ash Tree Meadow eventually holding off Willie Mullins’s Authorized Art to triumph under Danny Gilligan.

A day out at Galway Racecourse wouldn’t be complete without at least a bit of flair, so diehard racegoer Dawn Leadon Bolger put fashion and fillies together and celebrated Plate Day with a unique headpiece – the Plate itself.

Dawn, from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow said the hat took her just 20 minutes to put together and the idea struck her sitting at the kitchen table at breakfast time.

“I thought, how can I do something a little bit different to celebrate the Galway Plate? I looked down on the table, it’s the mammy’s plate,” she said.

“Got my bit of spray and my bit of glue last night, stuck it all together and stuck it on my head. I’m hoping it’s not like a flying saucer later. It’s actually quite comfortable.”

Her mother Bernie was a bit sceptical but came around eventually, so long as the plate is replaced.

“She was a little bit suspicious to begin with then she was going ‘Dawn, are you sure you don’t want to put something lighter on your head?’

“She just has to replace the plate, so at Christmas there’ll be a new set coming. It’s all a bit of fun and sure if we have the winner later, I’ll be eating my dinner off it.”

It was a wonderful way to celebrate one of the week’s highlights, all while recycling. “Sustainable clothes, sustainable horses,” she said.

Her passion for horses is palpable – she spends most of her time retraining retired racehorses, including a therapy horse.

Dawn left Galway in disappointment a year ago after her own horse Country Queen came up short but there are hopes for a comeback turn later this week.

“She came down at the second last, she was coming so close. I went home with my heart in my hands but a head full of dreams and she went on and won for us afterwards.”

Country Queen will hopefully make an appearance in Galway on Sunday and though Dawn’s headpiece mightn’t match yesterday’s effort, the dress is already laid out.

“She might run on Sunday. And the outfit’s already planned too!”

Amid the jubilation on Plate Day was disappointment inside the parade ring for Connacht rugby stars Caolin Blade, Paul Boyle and co. as heavy favourite ‘Up and Under’ came up short in the second race of the day.

Up and Under is owned by a 22-strong group which also includes legendary former Ireland Number 8 Jamie Heaslip and Connacht and Ireland mainstays Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen, who watched on from afar with World Cup preparations well under way.

He’s trained by Joseph O’Brien, the former jockey who rode Camelot to victory at the 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby and Irish Derby in 2012.

The three-year-old was coming off a fifth place finish in the Irish Derby at the Curragh and looked a certainty with his odds shortening as 5.40pm drew nearer.

Familiar roars of ‘go on, go on!’, willing a horse over the line rather than a rugby ball, weren’t enough as massive outsider Minella Mate sprung the upset of the week at 66/1.