Galway Races Preview: Under-The-Radar Contenders To Follow

The Galway Races will take centre stage in Ireland next week, with seven days of intense action from Ballybrit getting underway on Monday evening.

The Galway Races retains a special status at the heart of the Irish sporting summer and we're looking at some runners that might be heading out west under the radar.

Strong Link

Trainer Ross O'Sullivan will be eyeing up more Galway success in the coming week.

The handler from Greenhills in Naas sent out three winners at Ballybrit last summer during race week and he is hopeful that Donnie Devito, Talk In the Park and Volantis will all return for various targets this time around.

O'Sullivan has revealed his plans to run Strong Link in the Guinness Novice Hurdle that Donnie Devito bagged 12 months ago.

That contest over the extended two-and-a-half-miles is set to be run on Thursday July 31 and there are plenty of possibilities from the yards of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott.

Strong Link looks promising. It took him four goes to win his bumper, but he scored at Wexford in May under John Gleeson when stepped up to 2m4f.

O'Sullivan sent his five-year-old to Tipperary at the start of this month for a winning hurdles bow over that same trip and has pinpointed this race next.

He may face some useful opposition from top yards, but Strong Link isn't to be underestimated.

Shecouldbeanything

Winner of the Galway Hurdle last summer, Nurburgring is set to tackle the Plate this time for Joseph O'Brien as he attempts to become the first horse since Ansar 21 years ago to bag both Ballybrit features.

Elliott has a plethora of potential rivals and one who might be underestimated is the mare Shecouldbeanything as the Cullentra handler seeks out a record fifth Galway Plate win after successes with Lord Scoundrel (2016), Clarcam (2018), Borice (2019) and Ash Tree Meadow (2023) tied him Dermot Weld.

Shecouldbeanything was only eighth as Nurburgring won the Galway Hurdle last summer, but she enjoyed a stellar winter after following home Jesse Evans in a beginners' chase at this track in September.

She won four on the spin thereafter over fences, including a Listed contest at Bangor-on-Dee where her stamina was a big asset.

She also made the frame in the Grade 2 Mares' Chase at the Cheltenham Festival behind the smart Dinoblue and was then a distant seventh in the Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse where 3m5f on testing ground appeared to find her out.

This trip is within her scope, she has been freshened up since Easter and a mark of 140 is very fair.

Ja'marr

On the Flat, look out for the David Marnane-trained three-year-old Ja'marr. The Zoustar colt won twice on the Polytrack at Dundalk over the winter at the mile trip, latterly off a mark of 75 in December.

He was competitive from higher marks on turf this spring in decent races at Cork and Leopardstown and didn't look ideally suited when dropped back in trip at Limerick (6½f, good) earlier this month.

Luke McAteer's mount was held up in that contest and ran on strongly, but they didn't have the pace to get to market leader No Alibi and went down by a half-length at the line.

That was off a mark of 76 and the Watch Danny's Diary - 15 Years Of Tote Memories Handicap over the extended-mile at Galway on Wednesday evening could be right up Ja'marr's street based on his Curragh third behind the progressive Lady In Paris in June.