Going - NH - Good. Flat - Yielding, yielding to soft in places. Overcast
Jackpot Pool - €5,363.54 Not Won. Carried forward to Galway on Thursday 30th July. Placepot Pool - €84,905.02 Dividend - €172.80 Winning Units - 343.97. Days Aggregate - €871,968.32 Last Year €836,143.56
Mr Hollywood stars in the opener
I was hoping it might be the other way around! Emmet’s horse (Jeroboam Machin) ran very well and then my wife’s filly (Al Arrivee) ran a cracker as well, she was a little free up the front,. I think the winner is improving, his jumping will improve, so he’ll improve over hurdles. Probably a trip to York for the Ebor might be next on the agenda. That jumping will just put him in a nicer frame of mind, I think. Looking at the way he finished there, and in Ascot, I think he deserves a crack at a big prize over in York.
Queally strikes in staying handicap for second year running
That was brilliant. We got his wind done and I thought he had a nice run back in Kilbeggan,. I said I’d wait for this race and it worked out. I’m owed an apology off his owners. I went to Benidorm with a few of them and they were calling him a few names!
Cobden gets on the board at Galway
She won nicely, she disappointed me in Kilbeggan the last day, but I was happy enough with her form coming into today’s race,. Harry was very cool on her. It was all about settling her and he settled her nicely. He got a great jump at the second-last, and I thought from there it was all over if she just jumped the last, and she did. I was wondering had they gone fast enough, and obviously they did the way she closed out the race. She’s a mare that’s going to improve and she’ll jump fences down the road as well.
Alexander and Dan are the Kings of Ballybrit
I couldn’t believe how well he was travelling, and jumping so well,. He kept himself in the race without having any effort. He got over the last two and then just seemed to saunter up the hill. It was amazing how well he was travelling. I was disappointed with my other three, they just went out like lights coming up the hill. Some horses don’t handle Galway, but this is obviously a fella I’ll be bringing back to Galway year after year. It was a really open race and when people were considering that he was maybe our fourth choice, you can see why he was 20/1. It’s the race of the summer. The Grand National is probably the race of the winter, and maybe the Gold Cup, but when you come to the summer festivals the Galway Plate is the one everyone wants to win. John Neocleous is from Cyprus but he’s based in Dubai. He’s actually on holidays in Switzerland at the moment and said he couldn’t get a last-minute flight. It’s a pity he’s not here.
Abbotsford a dominant winner for Weld & Maguire
He’s a lovely big horse. He’s still very immature but he’s a horse with a future,.
Minella Rocketts home under Sheridan
He’s a tough little horse,. He probably didn’t fully see out the mile-and-a-quarter in Navan, but that was a serious race and everything has won out of it. We were a bit worried about the ground, but this has been the plan since Navan. We ran him over hurdles in the meantime, and he’ll be a Triumph Hurdle horse for someone hopefully!. He’s been on the market the whole time, but my value of him and other people’s value of him is different. How could you value today, it’s brilliant. The Nallens have talked about coming to Galway for a lifetime. We’re Mayo people originally as well, so to get a winner west of the Shannon is great. It’s been mighty.
Cock And Bull is a no-nonsense stayer
It was great. He had a nice run the last day in the Curragh and it was nice to be able to step up from it,. We’d originally thought that he might scrape into the Connacht Hotel on the Monday night, but the ratings were a bit higher this year. He was spot on for today and it was great to see him stick his neck out. He’s a very tough and genuine horse. He’s a pleasure. The horses are running well. We’ve had a second and a few thirds and it’s great to get one on the board. It’ll take a bit of pressure off for the rest of the week.
