Ruby Walsh: Hollow Games can step up to the Plate at Galway
FINAL PREPARATIONS: Frank Bohan writes up the changes board ahead of racing on day two of the Galway festival. Picture: Healy Racing
Plate Day became Plate Evening a few years ago, and Wednesday evening it has been turned on its head again due to the weather forecast. The flexibility Irish racing can show regarding scheduling is often envied by our British counterparts.
On Monday morning, all of those with a say in what happens here in Galway banged their heads together and made the collective call for Wednesday's meeting. Originally this card was due to start with the maiden hurdle, followed by all the jumping action before the Flat followed later on the card.
That was tradition, but with so much rain forecast and so little track to play with for seven consecutive days of racing, last-minute changes were needed in an attempt to stage it all. The plan is to have Wednesday evening's Flat races first before the featured Galway Plate starts the jumping action at 6.40pm.
Some might view giving the Flat horses the best of the ground as favouritism, but I believe it has more to do with moving starting stalls, as the wetter a surface gets, the more problematic it becomes.
We still have seven races and will hopefully have seven sets of winning connections. We start at 5.10pm with the smallest field and it’s a race I have no opinion on, but at 5.40pm Joseph O’Brien sends the Irish Derby fifth Up And Under out to break his duck. His participation in a qualified riders’ maiden will have surprised many, but I guess his rugby-orientated ownership group wanted a day out at Galway. Oppose him if you wish, but I can’t find a good enough reason to do so.
In the 6.10pm, which is a two-mile handicap, Willie Mullins has two runners, Mr Escobar and Immelmann. I think Mr Escobar will be a better horse racing left-handed and think Immelmann can improve more from his last Curragh run than the former, so I am going for him to win under Rachael Blackmore.
With Jordan Gainford still on the sidelines, Rachael had been linked to the ride on last year's Plate winner, Hewick, in this year's renewal. However, she has been claimed to ride last year's Blazer's winner, Gabby’s Cross. Brian Hughes takes the mount on Shark Hanlon's globetrotter, but the predicted rainfall could scupper his chance of a repeat victory.
Last year, Shark paraded around Galway telling the world and its mother that Hewick would win, but this year he has been shopping for every Child of Prague he can find in the hope of keeping the rain away.
Paul Townend will be hoping the Shark's miracle attempt works because a dry night and day would significantly enhance his chance of winning another Plate, this time on Kilcruit. He was an easy winner of one of the stand-out Plate trials, at Punchestown in April, but the penalty he incurred for that win and the weather will make his bid for summer glory more difficult.
Paul could have ridden Easy Game, Fighter Allen, or Authorised Art, but it's easy to see the logic in his choice and of those he neglected, Authorised Art could be the one to go closest as he has the featherweight of 10-5 on his back. He is a small horse who hasn't raced over fences with less than 11-5lb and might find this a more leisurely day at the office. Ciel De Neige is Willie’s fifth runner and has his chance too, on ground he will like.
Gordon Elliott saddles six of the 22 runners, giving the big two half the field, and Fury Road is a proven class addition to this contest. He is a regular in winter Grade One contests and dropping to handicap, with a top weight of Hewick’s ability, gives him a chance to run in one without a huge burden to carry. Ash Tree Meadow is the shortest of Elliott’s sextet in the betting, but Hollow Games interests me stepping up in trip for the first time over fences.
He was a solid third in the 2022 Marin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival, which showed his stamina, but he has only competed at the minimum trip over fences. I could be trying to read tea leaves here, but this has the making of a well-thought-out, long-term plan to me.
Final Orders and Enniskerry have their chances too, but of the “smaller yards” I think Peter Fahey's Visionarian could be the one to keep on side because of his profile as a second-season novice who has competed at the top-level, but never in a handicap over fences, which means he is unexposed.
My three are Hollow Games, Authorised Art, and Visionarian. If they blow out, we still have Aurora Princess in the 7.15pm race. The former three-year-old won here in disguise as a two-year-old and the change in ownership from her previous runs for Emmet Mullins is noteworthy.
The maiden hurdle at 7.45pm, which could be run in December, let alone August, is best watched in anticipation for the lucky last. Usually, it's Willie and Patrick in the bumper this late in the card, but on Wednesday it’s a staying handicap hurdle and the result could be the same.
We'llhavewan won over two miles at Ballinrobe, but I'll be shocked if Wednesday evening's trip is not more to his liking. It should help him overcome the 12lb rise the handicapper gave him, and hopefully send us all into town in high spirits.
