ATHLUMNEY LAD is a hopeful choice to win the Guinness Gold Cup at Tralee this afternoon.

EDWARD O'GRADY, absent at his uncle the legendary P P Hogan's funeral, missed seeing Kentucky Charm land the GPT Handicap at the first stage of the Galway Festival last night.

ESSEX, who landed the Irish Cesarewitch last October, will bid to translate his ability to timber when he lines up as the hot favourite for the Pierse Hurdle at Leopardstown tomorrow.

KICKING KING made a perfect start to his season by claiming the Grade Two National Lottery Agent Champion Chase at Gowran Park yesterday.

AMERICAN-BRED Gaff, trained by Dermot Weld and ridden by stable-jockey Pat Smullen, made a successful Irish debut when landing the listed El Gran Senor 2-Y-0 Stakes at Fairyhouse yesterday.

ATHLUMNEY LAD, despite the fact Michael Kinane will surely put up about 3lbs over-weight, could be the answer to the featured Guinness Handicap at Galway this evening.

A BALLYBRIT virgin, my first foray at the Galway Races was akin to a blinkered nag staggering shoeless at a donkey derby.

CHARLES BYRNES, a trainer with a terrific record on the big occasion, did it again at the first stage of Galway last night when Rockstown Boy finished late and fast to decisively land the GPT Handicap.

DERMOT WELD (above) has not enjoyed the best of starts to the flat campaign and currently has only four successes to his name and a strike rate of just 5%.

THE Brian Meehan-trained Leitrim House put himself in line for the Boylesports Irish 2000 Guineas when running out a three-and-a-half-length winner of the Group Three Rock Of Gibraltar EBF Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh yesterday.

The Brian Meehan-trained Leitrim House put himself in line for the Boylesports Irish 2000 Guineas when running out a three-and-a-half-length winner of the Group Three Rock Of Gibraltar EBF Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh today.

BRAVE little Solerina, fresh from her fourth to Iris’s Gift in the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, can enjoy a first ever success on the level in the Peter Byrne Kildare Race at the Curragh tomorrow.

ATHLUMNEY LAD gets the nod to take the Goresbridge Handicap at Gowran Park this afternoon.