With a mixture of flat and national hunt racing, Galway Races attracts punters from all walks of life from the keen race-goer to the ordinary punter to experience this unique sporting event.

The great Irish playwright John B. Keane said that the "Galway races are a state of mind". Indeed they are, a state of mind that is distinctly Irish, often copied but never equalled. It has been said about the festival that it once brought Galway city to a standstill but now brings the country to a standstill. Those who have been there will understand that, those who have yet to visit are still strangers to this country's greatest sporting festival.

Whether or not they are regular followers of horse-racing is immaterial, the salient pre-requisite for Galway racegoers is that they know how to have fun because that is the currency of the occasion. Starting in late July, the high point of the Summer holiday season, it has become the Irish equivalent of Mardi Gras, and is the fastest growing festival in the world. It effects an almost magnetic force on the population and once this force draws you into its field the experience that follows is almost hypnotising.

See www.galwayraces.com for more information and to book at Sleepzone Galway City during the Galway Races Summer Meeting go to Book Now, call 00353(0)91 566 999 or email info@sleepzone.ie.