Horse-by-horse guide to the Guinness Galway Hurdle
Our man in Ireland Donn McClean delivers an in-depth horse-by-horse guide to the Guinness Galway Hurdle (5.05).
1. Fils D’Oudairies
His last two runs have been up there with the best of his career. He battled on well to get the better of Cash Out at Ballinrobe at the end of May before going to Tipperary last time and winning the Grade 3 Grimes Hurdle over two miles, getting home by almost three lengths from the high-class Sharjah, winner of the Galway Hurdle in 2018 and an impressive winner of his beginners’ chase on Tuesday. His new mark of 149 is a career-high, but he is in the form of his life.
2. Jesse Evans
Fourth in the Galway Hurdle in 2021, he is 8lb higher now than he was when he finished second to Tudor City in the race last year. He goes into the race in really good form though, he kept on well to win a qualified riders’ race on the flat at Leopardstown three weeks ago, and that should have brought him forward nicely for this, a race that his trainer has surely had on his radar for a while.
3. Filey Bay
Winner of his first two hurdle races after he joined Emmet Mullins, he ran big races in two big handicap hurdles in the spring, finishing second in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury and finishing third in the County Hurdle at Cheltenham. He didn’t run after Cheltenham until he returned on the flat at Ballinrobe last month, in the race that Glan won, and that run should have brought him forward nicely with this race in mind.
4. Lucky Max
He progressed nicely after re-joining Sean Doyle last season, improving from a mark of 126 to his current mark of 142, and a little unlucky not to win more than once. Just beaten in a handicap hurdle at Naas in March, he finished a close-up fourth in a valuable handicap hurdle at Cork in early April before putting up a rare below-par performance at the Punchestown Festival. He hasn’t run since, but he can go well fresh.
5. Party Central
A progressive hurdler two seasons ago, winner of competitive mares’ hurdles at Leopardstown and Punchestown, she returned after a break in a maiden on the flat at Gowran Park in April, when she stayed on well to get up and beat subsequent winner Esculenta. She was beaten in a listed mares’ hurdle at Killarney next time, but she bounced back to form last time to win again on the flat at Bellewstown, when she beat subsequent winner Jesse Evans by three and a half lengths. Gordon Elliott has four in the race, so it is obviously significant that Jack Kennedy rides.
6. Zarak The Brave
A progressive juvenile hurdler last season, he finished second to Triumph Hurdle winner Lossiemouth twice, at Fairyhouse in December and in the champion four-year-old hurdle at Punchestown in April. Fourth behind another stable companion Gala Marceau in the Prix Alain du Breil at Auteuil in May, he is the choice of Paul Townend in a race that Willie Mullins has won four times in the last seven years.
7. Brazil
Winner of the Fred Winter Hurdle at Cheltenham in March last year, he was an impressive winner of the Fisher Lane Hurdle at Naas on his second run last season. He has been well beaten in three runs in handicaps on the flat and over hurdles this year, but he could be a well-handicapped horse if he could return to his best, and first-time cheekpieces could elicit further improvement.
8. My Mate Mozzie
He hasn’t won over hurdles since he won the Grade 3 For Auction Hurdle as a novice in November 2021, but he hasn’t run over hurdles since he finished third in a valuable handicap hurdle at Listowel last September. He was only just beaten in the November Handicap on the flat at Naas last November, when he looked a likely winner after going clear two furlongs out, and he easily landed a maiden over a mile and a half at Tramore last month. He goes into the race in good form.
9. Cash Back
He is 11 years old now, but he finished close up behind Fils D’Oudairies in each of his last two runs, and he is better off at the weights with that rival now. He isn’t as free and keen as he was in his younger days, and his talented rider takes off a valuable 5lb.
10. Bialystok
Winner of his maiden hurdle on his third run for Willie Mullins at Naas in February, he stepped forward from that last time when he ran out an impressive winner of a competitive handicap hurdle at the Punchestown Festival. A 9lb hike was justified and, a five-year-old who has run just four times over hurdles, a three-time winner on the flat for Jean-Claude Rouget in France, he has the potential to progress again.
12. Mighty Tom
Winner of his maiden hurdle at Galway in October 2020 when he was with Tom Cooper, he shaped encouragingly at Punchestown in April on his first run for Cian Collins, and he improved on that last time when he easily landed a listed hurdle at Killarney in May. He has been raised by 11lb for that win, but you couldn’t rule out another step forward.
13. Da Capo Glory
He beat yesterday’s Plate hero Ash Tree Meadow by a neck over hurdles at Punchestown in June, and he kept on well to finish fifth behind FIls D’Oudairies and Cash Back in the Grade 3 Grimes Hurdle at Tipperary last month. He is better off at the weights with those two and he is one for one at Galway.
14. Icare Allen
He hasn’t won since he won a Grade 3 juvenile hurdle at Fairyhouse in February 2022, and he has plenty to find with Fils D’Oudairies, Cash Back and Da Capo Glory on their running in the Grimes Hurdle.
15. Prairie Dancer
An excellent third in the Galway Hurdle last year, he went to Listowel on his next run and, racing off a 2lb higher mark, won the Lartigue Hurdle. He hasn’t won since, and he made his chasing bow at Ballinrobe in May, but he is a wholly likeable front-runner who could be re-ignited by the return to Galway.
16. Captain Conby
He ran some big races in big handicap hurdles last season, including in the Tara Hurdle at Punchestown and in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham. He is effective over further, but he doesn’t lack pace, and he will be interesting now on his first run over two miles over hurdles. He returned from a short break to run well on the flat last time at Roscommon in the race that Glan won, when he didn’t have a lot of racing room late on.
17. Gatsby Grey
A dual winner as a novice two seasons ago, he was a little unlucky not to finish closer than he did when he took fifth place in a valuable handicap hurdle at Aintree in April. He has a bit to find with Jesse Evans on their running on the flat at Leoparstown last month, but that was his first run since the Punchestown Festival, and that could bring him forward for today.
18. Merlin Giant
Second in a qualified riders’ maiden on the flat on the Wednesday of the Galway Festival last year, he was good in winning his maiden hurdle over today’s course and distance three days later. An impressive winner of a good handicap hurdle at the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle meeting at Fairyhouse in December, he is 10lb higher in the handicap now than he was then, but he has run just six times over hurdles now, he still has potential for progression. He was a good winner of a maiden on the flat in June on his latest run, and that run should have put him spot on for today, for a race that connections have probably had in mind for him for a while.
19. Amir Kabir
A dual winner on the flat for Roger Charlton, he got off the mark on his first run over hurdles for Gordon Elliott at Roscommon in July last year, and he followed up by finishing a good second in a listed novices’ hurdle at last year’s Galway Festival. A winner too at Listowel in September, he was beaten in graded races at Fairyhouse and Punchestown in the spring, but he could appreciate the move into handicap company here.
20. Tudor City
It would be a remarkable story. When he won the race last year, he became the first dual winner of the Galway Hurdle since Pinch Hitter in the 1980s, and the first 10-year-old winner since the 1940s. No horse has ever won the Galway Hurdle three times, but he goes into the race in good form, having won the apprentices’ Derby at The Curragh on Derby weekend, a race in which he could finish only third last year before he won the Galway Hurdle. He sneaks into the bottom of the handicap on a mark of 136, the same as last year, and Liam McKenna, who was excellent on him last year, claims a valuable 5lb.
23. Glan
She goes into the race in good form, having won over hurdles at Listowel in June and on the flat at Roscommon in July, when she stayed on well down the outside to win nicely, leaving her stable companion, yesterday’s Plate winner Ash Tree Meadow, a length behind her in third. She is off a career-high mark of 135, but she is progressive, and she will receive weight from all her rivals.
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