Donn McClean previews the Guinness Galway Hurdle Handicap

Galway Hurdle bet:
Timiyan (Sky Bet paying SIX places)

It would be some training performance by Willie Mullins were he to send Max Dynamite out today to win the Guinness Galway Hurdle and the €177,000 that sails in her. No run over hurdles since he finished second in this race in 2015; no run at all since he finished down the field in Order Of St George’s Ascot Gold Cup last year. That’s 13 and a half months ago. But then, Willie Mullins is no stranger to 'some training performances'.

You can see it too. Since he finished second in that Galway Hurdle, Susannah Ricci’s horse has won a Lonsdale Cup and finished second in a Melbourne Cup. He has obviously had his issues since we last saw him, but he gets to race off a handicap rating today of 141, which is just 5lb higher than the mark off which he finished second in 2015. And he has shown significantly improved form on the flat since then.

Mullins has been dominating the feature races at Galway this week. He had the 1-3-4 in the Connacht Hotel Handicap on Monday evening, he had the winner of the Colm Quinn BMW Mile on Tuesday, and he sent out Shaneshill to finish second to Balko Des Flos in the Galway Plate yesterday. And Ruby Walsh has chosen to ride Max Dynamite in front of Airlie Beach and Ivan Grozny and Clondaw Warrior, who is part-owned by his wife Gillian, and on whom he won the Hurdle last year. It’s no wonder that Max Dynamite is favourite.

It is a deep race though. It is a Galway Hurdle. Ornua is interesting, representing yesterday’s Galway Plate-winning trainer Henry de Bromhead. Winner of his point-to-point last October, the Mahler gelding only won his maiden hurdle at Down Royal in early May this year, but he was impressive in so doing, and he was even more impressive in following up at Clonmel two weeks later.

This is obviously a massive step up in class for him, it could all be a bit much for one so inexperienced, and he would not want the ground to get too soft, but he has the potential to be a fair bit better than the mark of 138 off which he races today.

Tigris River is also interesting. Fifth in the Hurdle last year, the Joseph O’Brien-trained gelding did well to win a two-mile handicap on the flat at The Curragh in mid-June off a mark of 83. He was hampered at the two-furlong pole that day when he was starting to make his ground, but he quickly recovered his equilibrium and came away to win easily.

He was good last time too back over hurdles at Bellewstown, he travelled well through his race and he eased his way to victory.

He was raised just 2lb for that win, which was fair. That Bellewstown performance promised more, he is only six, he is nicely progressive now, and Barry Geraghty takes the ride.

That said, at a slightly bigger price, TIMIYAN is even more interesting. Set to carry just 10st 4lb, he might have been just beyond Barry Geraghty’s reach. JP McManus’ rider can do 10st 4lb all right but, just three days after his return to the saddle after a lengthy injury, it might have just been on the cusp.

Timiyan won a three-year-old handicap over a mile and a half on the flat at the Galway Festival in 2014, when he was trained by Dermot Weld and when he raced in the colours of his breeder HH The Aga Khan, and he followed up by running out an impressive winner of a handicap at Gowran Park off a mark of 93. That earned him a flat rating of 100.

JP McManus’ horse is two for two now since joining Gordon Elliott. He battled on well to win a handicap hurdle at Roscommon in June off a mark of 119 on his first run in over seven months, and he stepped forward from that at Bellewstown last time, when he was impressive in landing another handicap hurdle off a mark of 125.

He races off a 10lb higher mark today, but he needed a hike of that type of magnitude if he was to give himself a chance of getting into today’s race. He is only six and has raced just six times over hurdles, so he has lots of potential for further progression. We know that he can go well at Galway, and it is significant that Aidan Coleman is coming over to ride him. Best odds of 8/1 or 9/1 are fair.

For more from Donn, visit www.donnmcclean.com.

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