Galway Wednesday - Early Market Round Up

Daily guide to the early trade in the markets at Galway with Eoin Ryan of Betfair.

Day 3 of the Festival has seen a dramatic change in the weather conditions with rain pouring down here at Ballybrit. Punters will be hoping for a change of fortune too, as yesterday was a bloothbath for punters overall.

We kick off here today with a 2M Novice Hurdle and the one for early money has been Dreamy Gent. A tight 2-1 shot on Betfair now, he may well go off as favourite ahead of paper favourite Imperial Rose. She comes from the Tony Martin stable who struck here yesterday in the opener with Corrick Bridge, so any market moves should be treated with respect.

The Martin stable also provide the likely favourite in the second race, a 2M4F Handicap Hurdle, in Leg Spinner. That said, he won´t want today´s rain to affect the ground too much as his best form has been displayed on good going. He´s a 3-1 shot early doors but the market has yet to ignite properly. Ninety Two Team (13-1 into 10-1) merits a positive small mention and nothing as yet rates as a negative.

The 3rd race on the card is a 1M4F handicap and has a typically open look to it. Do the Trick has been solid enough in morning trade at around 7-2 whilst Shaimaa has caught the eye in the early exchanges, contracting from an early 12-1 into his current 8-1. No major negatives to report in what is still a developing early market.

The day´s feature, The William Hill Galway Plate is the fourth race today and the early moves have centred around Cool Running (10-1 into 8-1), Conna Castle (9-1 into 8-1) and the Paul Nicholl´s-trained UK raider Hoo La Baloo (14-1 into 12-1). There has also been some interesting money for Knight Legend and he trades at 18-1 now from an early price of 25-1. That move for the latter has also been reported by most of the major high street firms, which is hardly surprising given that he´s the selection of Tom Segal, aka Pricewise, in The Racing Post. Course specialist and top weight Ansar has been fairly weak in the early exchanges, as has Pacolet.

Hum The Tune will be a warm order for Dermot Weld in the 1M Handicap and has been solid all morning. A general 2-1 on the high street, he´s trading a touch bigger on Betfair at around 9-4. Nothing as yet rates as a negative.

Nina Carberry rides Soneva Gili for Dermot Weld in the 6th race and he´s been popular with punters this morning. An early 4-1 shot, he now trades at closer to 5-2 and is disputing favouritism with Aidan O´Brien´s The Ethiopian. Again, there is no major negative in the market at this stage.

Our penultimate race is another 1M handicap and at this stage the only one that merits a positive mention is the hat-trick seeking Raise Your Heart. Joanna Morgan´s improving four year-old is now 5-1 from an early price of 8-1.

We round things off with a 1 Mile Maiden and this should be a serious betting heat, with Dermot Weld responsible for the likely favourite in Princely Hero. His biggest threat will be David Watchman´s De La Grandera, who is sure to be well supported at around 5-2 with Kieran Fallon on board.