Alan Marron is back with his best bets for Day 3 of the Galway Festival.
We didn’t manage to get a winner on the board yesterday with Karakoul finishing second, Remind finishing third and Sirjack Thomas out of the placings. We will be hoping for better today.
The feature today is the Tote Galway Plate, worth €270,000 with the winner getting €162,000. This race is a typical big-field competitive handicap and it is no different this time around. Bar One Racing are paying SIX PLACES on today’s Galway Plate. Check the prices here.
As normal, I will give my three best bets for the day, and hopefully we can finish in profit by the end of the card.
5.10 NAP —- DAWN RISING — TRAINER JOSEPH O’BRIEN —- JOCKEY — MARK WALSH (6/4)
In the opener on Day Three I am intrigued by the JP Mc Manus-owned Dawn Rising. This horse was formerly trained by Aidan O’Brien and is a brother of 2019 Irish Derby winner, Sovereign.
He hasn’t been seen for 748 days and this is his debut over hurdles but he clearly has ability and could be a very smart recruit. He still has an entry in the Irish St Leger, which shows the regard that he is held in.
The last time we saw him he finished second in the Bahrain Trophy at Newmarket on the level over 1m5f so stamina won’t be an issue.
He comes into this off a long break, but maybe the best time to catch him is when fresh and, if he retains his ability, he is going to be very hard to beat. The market has spoken in his favour overnight and hopefully this will get us off to a winning start.
6.10 NEXT BEST — RETURN TO BASE — TRAINER GORDON ELLIOTT — JOCKEY — JACK KENNEDY (7/1)
I have looked at the form of this race a few times earlier this morning and I kept coming back to the Gordon Elliott-trained runner Return To Base.
This mare will only be having her third start but she was visually impressive last time out at Punchestown where she won by nine lengths. There will undoubtedly be improvement to come and, if so, that could put her bang in contention here.
The comments after the race last time were that connections liked this mare but she may have had a few niggling issues and was hard to get to the track, but the victory last time out wasn’t unexpected.
If she can get some luck in running then I think she will be tough to keep out of the frame.
Bar One Racing are paying FIVE PLACES on the race.
6.40 EACH WAY — HEWICK — TRAINER JOHN JOSEPH HANLON — JOCKEY — JORDAN GAINFORD (12/1)
My each-way selection will be in the feature on the evening, the Tote Galway Plate, and it will be Hewick, trained by “Shark” Hanlon and due to to be ridden by Jordan Gainford.
This horse was in excellent form towards the end of last season, winning a nice pot at Sandown in a decent handicap chase over 3m 4f (the race formerly known as the Whitbread Gold Cup). He stayed on strongly on that occasion to win by eight lengths so stamina shouldn’t be an issue here.
The “Shark” has been very bullish about this horse in recent days suggesting that he is going to run a big race. The ground shouldn’t be a problem to him at all.
He had a lovely prep run for this race when he was beaten a head by Metersandmasks at Ballinrobe. He raced off a much lower mark over hurdles and he was unlucky not to get his head in front.
The hustle and bustle of a big field handicap shouldn’t worry this horse and he likes to race close enough to the pace. If he gets into a rhythm early then I think he is going to be tough to keep out of the placings.
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