Euro can lead the way in GPT

THE tough Euro Leader has the qualities needed to land the featured GPT Handicap at the first stage of the Galway Festival this evening.

Ability to truly stay two miles and face the dreaded up hill climb to the straight are the ingredients needed for this test of stamina and Willie Mullins’ eight-year-old looks best equipped of all the 20 possibilities.

He returns from a minor break, having been rested since disappointing over hurdles on unsuitably soft ground at Auteuil in the middle of June. Previously, Euro Leader contested his first ever flat race over a mile and six at Leopardstown and battled on powerfully to beat stable companion Warrens Castle by a head. A high-class chaser, he defied 12-0 to win the Kerry National at Listowel last September, the selection is the one to beat with the talented Katie Walsh in the plate.