Galway: day six

the Galway Festival goes into its sixth day with the card dominated by handicaps. The big race is the 7 furlongs handicap at 16.10 CET, and although Dermot Weld has not been quite as all-conquering as is usually the case here, we shall keep the faith and select his Stuccodor (Pat Smullen), who has won his last 5 races. He has gone up a lot in the weights, but will like the heavy going and can win again. British raider Pintura (Kevin Ryan/ Declan McDonogh) won this race last year and is the obvious danger, although Weld´s other runner Northern Rocked (Liam Roche) also has possibilities.
The two races for 2yo´s that open card should lie between Weld and Aidan O´Brien and we are hoping for a Weld double here with Leafcutter (Smullen) at 15.00 and Mahon Falls (Roche) at 15.35.
The only jumps race today is the handicap hurdle over 2 3/4 miles at 16.45. Call me Bubbles (Willie Mullins/ Ruby Walsh), who ran on the flat here earlier in the week, looks very dangerous, but we shall take a chance on German-bred Novarov (JF O´Shea/ SG McDermott), who won over 3 miles at this meeting last year, when the going was equally bad. Landero also has a German pedigree, but he is closely related to Lando, so we do not think we will go on the ground. However another German-bred with a chance is Apisata (Mervyn Torrens/ DM Grant) over 1 172 miles at 17.55; she is out of the German listed winner Api Sa.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Iniesta - Keyword - Healthy Habits
2. Race: Mahon Falls - Dove Mountain - Princess Aloof
3. Race: - -
4. Race: - -
5. Race: Toufan Express - Vasoni - Capitol Hill
6. Race: Magnolia Ridge - Time To Work - Face Value
7. Race: Sharp Crisp Air - Exotic - Smolensk
8. Race: Busted Tycoon - Raggletagglegypsy - Ibsen