Overturn a stone higher in weights for Galway Hurdle

DONALD McCAIN’S Overturn will have to defy a stone extra if the versatile performer is to repeat last year’s emphatic victory in the Guinness Galway Handicap Hurdle, the richest National Hunt race in Ireland this year, at Ballybrit on Thursday fortnight.

The Cheshire-based habitual front-runner can compete in the €260,000 feature of Galway’s Summer Festival off top weight of 11-10 against a maximum of 19 rivals that may well include last year’s second and third, Bahrain Storm (11-5) and Dirar (10-1) respectively.

Senior Irish assessor, Noel O’Brien, has raised McCain’s charge to a career-high mark of 159 in Ireland in the weights published yesterday. Only 16 of the other 40 entries are currently in the handicap proper.