Ryan Revels In Uhoomagoo Triumph

Kevin Ryan returned to his native Ireland to triumph to win the feature race with Uhoomagoo on the final day of the week-long Galway Festival.

The Thirsk trainer was saddling his first runner at the Irish track as the seven-year-old came from last to first under an inspired ride from Neil Callan to take the Michael McNamara & Co Handicap.

The 7-1 chance cut through the pack to get home by one and a half lengths from Senator´s Alibi. Camargue stayed on to take third place, while Majestic Times was fourth in the seven-furlong contest.

Ryan said: 'I felt if we could get him in the right frame of mind he would run a big race.

'He is a horse that gets outpaced early on but they go a really good pace around here and I´ve seen a lot of horses come from off the pace to win.

'Neil´s a top class rider and this horse has been very good to me,' said Ryan, who hails from Co. Tipperary.

A delighted Callan, also Irish born, said: 'He´s a really good horse and I was always confident.

'I stayed on the inside to save a bit of ground and once he cut the corner, that´s when he showed his true class.

'On his day there are few better than him so I´m obviously very happy.'

Dermot Weld bought a splendid week to a close when Pat Smullen and Motafarred (2-5) made all the running in the Mercer Hotel Race by three and a half lengths.

The Rosewell House trainer´s eight victories saw him capture the Chanelle Veterinary Leading Trainer Award.

An 18{-1 double from Ruby Walsh helped him touch off Nina Carberry for the Rooney Life & Pensions-sponsored leading National Hunt rider.

His brace featured a perfectly-judged ride on Tony Martin´s Millanymare in the Corrib Village Handicap Hurdle.

The 100-30 favourite looked to have plenty to do jumping the fourth last but gradually crept into contention and led before the last to score by six lengths.

On what his first ride for Nenagh trainer Tom Hogan, Walsh had earlier recorded a pillar-to-post success on Rooftop Protest (7-2) in the Tara Towers Hotel Handicap Hurdle.

The day began with an incident packed Mercer Court Beginners Chase that went to the Timothy O´Callaghan-trained Ghlaisebhui (14-1).

In a field decimated by fallers, the eight-year-old prevailed to round off a memorable meeting for Niall Madden.

Although he failed to ride a winner on the final day, Fran Berry´s haul of five winners was still good enough for him to secure the Rooney Life & Pensions leading Flat jockey award.

Homegrown (5-1) followed up her victory here on Tuesday by landing the Galway Fairgreen Hotel Handicap for jockey Seamus Heffernan and trainer Pat Tallis.

The final race of the week saw 7-4 favourite Pedrobob, who is owned and ridden by Barry Connell, complete a hat-trick of bumper victories for Tony Mullins in the Tara Towers Hotel Flat Race

The Festival attracted a total of 182,720 racegoers during the seven days and saw nearly ?27million bet on-course throughout the week.

? PA Sport