Galway's October Meeting: Top Trainers To Watch Galway hosts a three-day meeting across the Bank Holiday weekend in Ireland and there’s a little something for everyone to enjoy. The first two days provide some competitive jumping action, whilst the Flat fans get their fill on Monday. There’s lots going on and you can guarantee that the famous Galway crowd will create a lively atmosphere. Finding winners is never an easy task so we’ve picked out five trainers to follow across the three days, including one with a 43 per cent strike-rate over jumps. Andrew Slattery The County Tipperary-based handler has only had seven runners over jumps at Galway so far this season and three of them have won, which gives him an impressive strike-rate of 43 per cent. He has two runners declared on Saturday, one of which is particularly interesting. Mullaghgloss won a bumper here earlier this month and he’s now set to make his hurdles debut on Saturday. This might not be the deepest of maiden hurdles and Slattery’s four-year-old has to be a major contender. Gordon Elliott A magnificent five-timer in the US last week has probably slipped under the radar and the fact that Willie Mullins has no runners on Day 1 means that he is the major player at the table. He is represented by two runners on Saturday and has a host of interesting entries the following day. Prends Garde A Toi won a Downpatrick maiden hurdle in October last year, but things didn’t quite go to plan after that. The switch to fences can revitalise him and Gerrys Wish should also be competitive, after being narrowly denied at Perth last time out. Henry de Bromhead County Waterford’s master trainer is operating at a very healthy strike-rate at the moment and he also has the assistance of the high flying Darragh O’Keeffe, who sits at the top of the jockeys’ championship. He had a treble at Limerick last weekend and has several interesting entries over the weekend. Waterford Whispers ran a cracker at the 2024 Cheltenham Festival and should be capable of winning Saturday’s 2m2f novice chase with that in mind. Emmet Mullins There had to be a Mullins somewhere on this list and this time it’s Emmet. Although he’s primarily a jumps trainer, he does have a 25 per cent strike-rate here on the Flat in 2025 and is always worth looking out for when the money starts to come for one of his runners. The likes of Barra Rua and Churchfield Annie appear to have significant chances if they line up on Sunday, while he also has a few entries on Monday’s Flat card. Aidan O’Brien O’Brien is Galway’s joint top Flat trainer so far this year, with four winners from his 19 runners. He has multiple entries in both of the maidens on Monday’s card and his two-year-olds are always likely candidates, but particularly so at this time of year. Cape Primrose was narrowly denied in a Thurles maiden when last seen and she will have every chance of going one better if she lines up in Monday’s opening race. The well-bred Druids Glen could only manage fifth on debut, but he’s likely to improve significantly.
