7.45 2m. 6f. 111yds. 15 Declared. Guinness Galway Blazers H'cap S'chase of €50,000.00 4-y-o plus
1st - €30,000.00 2nd - €10,000.00 3rd - €5,000.00 4th - €2,500.00 5th - €1,500.00 6th - €1,000.00
FormscanBy Donal Murphy - PORTMORE LOUGH makes plenty of appeal with Gavin Brouder taking a valuable seven pounds off. The nine-year-old grey finished a good third in the Troytown at Navan in November and since unseated at the Dublin Racing Festival. Before that he was twice successful at Ballybrit and justified good market support on both occasions. Handicap debutant Macgiloney is given second preference. He put in a good battling performance to see off Doctor Duffy at Roscommon recently and it'll come as no surprise if he manages to follow-up here with Shane Mulcahy taking seven pounds off. The hat-trick seeking Gunfire Reef couldn't have won any easier at Limerick last week and it'll be interesting to see how he fares back over fences. Woodbrook Boy and Rewritetherules both appear to have solid claims for John 'Shark' Hanlon, while Mindsmadeup, Might Stowaway and Tesseract (fourth in this race twelve months ago) are other leading hopes.
An extended handicap steeplechase for four years old and upwards (140 = 11st 10lbs)Weights - Top weight in the original handicap and after the time of declaration shall not be less than 11st 10lbs and the minimum weight is 9st 12lbsPenalties - Winner of a steeplechase or steeplechases after calculation of the handicap shall carry any penalty or penalties which may be allotted by the Handicapper.