Galway: day four

The Galway Festival goes into ist fourth day today with an early start at 14.50 CET. The most valuable race of the day is the Guinness Galway Hurdle, a 2 mile handicap at 17.55 CET with a massive 156,000 euros für the winner (about the same as the 3 Goodwood Group races combined!). With a maximum field of 20, this is a minefield for punters, although they got it right yesterday with the controversial victory of the "right" JP McManus runner.

Jhe has several runners again, and also quite a few trainers have more than a single runner- Willie Mullins has 5, with Ruby Walsh on Pique Sous, Gordon Elliott has 3, in-form Tony Martin two, including Tony McCoy on Thomas Edison, while Galway specialist Dermot Weld also has 2. The most interesting runner is Weld´s Rock Critic (Jason Maguire), who is unbeaten in two starts over hurdles and is also useful on the flat. He is coming off a long break, but has won at the Galway Festival for the last 3 years and will love the very soft ground. The handicapper has given him an extremely high rating for what he has actually achieved, buit we still hope that he can win off this weight.

We also expect Weld to take the best flat race, a listed Event over 7 furlongs for fillies and mares at 16.40 with Yellow Rosebud (Pat Smullen). She was runner-up here last year to Lady Wingshot (Jim Bolger/ Kevin Manning) and was also beaten by the same filly later in the season, but she is better off at the weights now and can take her revenge. Snow Fairy (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) would also have a chance on her best form, but she has become very moody and is not to be trusted.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Spring Heeled - Shake The Bucket - Heaney
2. Race: Rebel Fitz - Sizing Italy - He`S Our Man
3. Race: Fairylike - Maundy Money - Castle Bar Sling
4. Race: Yellow Rosebud - Sendmylovetorose - Hanky Panky
5. Race: Bally Longford - Aranhill Chief - Benemeade
6. Race: Pique Sous - Ted Veale - Rock Critic
7. Race: Greenbelt Star - Treasure The Ridge - Shalaman
8. Race: Dont Tell No One - Goldboy - Estilaam