Hefty burden for Ansar's Plate hat-trick bid
Dermot Weld’s Ansar heads the list of 45 horses entered for the valuable William Hill Galway Plate on August 2.
The popular 10-year-old has won the last two renewals, beating Risk Accessor in 2004 and Ursumman in 2005, but he will have to shoulder top weight of 11st 10lb when seeking his hat-trick next month.
Weld hopes Ansar can provide him with a fifth win in the race since Kiichi’s success of 1990, and explained he had been expecting such an impost following his charge’s two previous successes.
“I was expecting top weight, but Ansar is in good form and hopefully can register an eighth course success at Ballybrit and complete the hat-trick,” he said.
Explaining how he allotted the weights, Turf Club handicapper Noel O’Brien said: “I think it’s a super race again this year.
“The entry is excellent and with his record at Galway Ansar has to have top weight again.
“He ran very well at the Curragh recently and while I am sure Dermot would have preferred a pound or two less, I am sure he will still take a great deal of beating once again and 24 of the entries remain in the handicap proper.”
Noel Meade looks set to be well represented as he currently has seven engaged, including the progressive Euro Leader, while Willie Mullins and Edward O’Grady each have three.
Among the trio of British hopes are Richard Fahey’s Ball O Malt and Philip Hobbs’ Fool On The Hill.
Ball O Malt was last seen when landing the Galway Plate Trial at Perth, and his handler hopes he will acquit himself well in the main event after being trained specifically for the race.
“I have trained this fellow with this race in mind for the last 12 months and 10st 6lb is a fighting weight, although Ansar will still be very tough to beat.
“Last year we travelled over too close to the race, he didn’t travel well and consequently I was in two minds about running him.
“He didn’t do himself justice last year, but he is in great nick at the moment and we will travel over in good time this year to allow him time to recover.
“He handles fast ground and is a handy type of horse for this race, I’d be very hopeful of a big run,” he added.
Hobbs reports Fool On The Hill to be in good order, but feels his charge holds few secrets from the handicappers.
“Fool On The Hill is in great form at the moment and he could be set for a busy week.
“He is set to run at Market Rasen this Saturday and if he runs well, we’ll look at going over for the Galway Plate as well.
“He is rated at an all-time high in the UK and I think the Irish handicapper has him weighted up to his best as well, but he is in fine fettle at the moment.”
The sponsors make Ansar the 7-1 favourite following his encouraging recent return to action on the Flat, while Far From Trouble and last year’s runner up Ursumman are next in at 8-1 and 10-1 respectively.
William Hill Galway Plate, sponsors betting:
7-1 Ansar, 8-1 Far From Trouble, 10-1 Ursumman, 12-1 Euro Leader, Banasan, 14-1 Dix Villez, More Rainbows, 16-1 Carlisimo, Coast to Coast, Davenport Democrat, Manjoe, Mirpour, Mutakarrim, Wills Wilde, 20-1 Ball O Malt, Brutto Facie, Fool On The Hill, Kings Orchard, 25-1 Bar.
