Galway Hurdle: 'If you're in the middle you'll just hear the hurdles. You might not even see them!'

Paddy Flood, our lead analyst looks at how to ride the Galway Hurdle and what makes the track so idiosyncratic in comparison to others.

Having won the contest back in 2006, he gives intriguing insights into riding the track and the chaotic nature of Thursday’s feature event.

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Paddy Flood’s Analysis

You race so tight in a Galway Hurdle, it's unbelievable. A lot of the time, if you're somewhere in the middle here, you'll just hear the hurdles. You might not even see them.

You'll hear the horse in front of you jumping them and you're just hoping your horse can see enough to judge it. It's amazing what horses can do.

These horses are well above average. They've probably been running in good races and handicaps before, so they're used to it. If you're on a good jumper, it's good fun. If you're not, it's not much fun.

After three hurdles in the Galway Hurdle, everything starts to settle down. If you're out there, you're in no man's land. For me, the prime position is somewhere here - one or two off the rail.

People might say, "If you're one or two off the rail, you're stuck in the bunch." But I'll show you in the next clip why I think one or two off the rail is actually a good spot.

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