Weld can put another one over O’Brien
Not only because it’s a maiden and Dermot Weld has a likely sort in Matters At Hand but also because his only conceivable danger comes from an Aidan O’Brien trained runner.
On Monday evening, punters took temporary leave of absence of their senses when sustained support for O’Brien’s Drumbeat saw him shade favouritism ahead of Weld’s Broad Meaning in the GPT Juveniles’ Maiden.
After a brief state of confusion, normality surfaced and Broad Meaning was heavily supported into odds-on in the dying minutes before the race while Drumbeat drifted back out to 7-4. Minds clearly boggled by the magnitude of the seven-day festival ahead, punters must have mistaken the meeting for Newmarket or the Curragh or any track where Group 1s are run.
This is Galway. This is Weld’s domain and the Master of Ballybrit got one over on the Master of Ballydoyle as Broad Meaning duly obliged.
Will it be a similar story tonight? The truth is that neither Weld’s runner, Matters At Hand, nor O’Brien’s representative, Mikhail Fokine, look bullet-proof but there’s little or no form among the other seven runners, with the potential exception — and it’s only potential — of Jessica Harrington’s Manor Park, to suggest that the prize will be going elsewhere.
Matters At Hand finished second behind Starluck in an All-Weather maiden at Dundalk on his debut before being employed as a pacemaker for Derby third Casual Conquest in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial.
Allowed to run on his merit at the Curragh on Guineas weekend, he was second behind Ballydoyle’s Tiffany Diamond over ten furlongs. He looked every inch a stayer that day and should be suited by the step up to a mile and a half. Weld has kept the son of Red Ransom off since that race and it’s quite likely his shrewd handler had this race in his mind for some time.
Mikhail Fokine has run five times without success but has some strong form in defeat. His second behind Moiqen, under a 7lb claimer, reads particularly well when considering that Alessandro Volta was a neck behind in third place.
However, he did disappoint at odds-on back in maiden company on the all-weather in October and made no show on his seasonal debut behind Septimus. He’s bred to get the mile and a half readily but there’s no suggestion from what we’ve seen so far that he’ll actually excel over it. One of his half-siblings is a winner over five furlongs but none have managed to win over this distance.
The race has the look of a dead match between the pair and, though there are question marks over the distance for both horses, the balance of power falls in favour of Dermot Weld’s horse who looked a likely sort last time. He’s a half brother to winning hurdler and chaser Jubilant Note and can help launch his handler’s bid for a third century of winners at the Festival.
Tommy Lyons’ verdict: Banker
