Galway Plate gets Royal approval

Monday’s Killarney winner Royal County Star will be part of Tony Martin plans to win the Galway Plate for the first time.

A 14-1 chance with sponsors William Hill for the July 29 feature, the 10-year-old was a much shorter price in the Summerfest Chase, in which he scrambled home ahead of Knight Legend as a Ruby Walsh-ridden 4-9 shot.

It was still enough to make it three on the bounce, though, following victories in a chase at Punchestown and a hurdle at Cork.

“He has been very good to us and, all being well, he’ll go for the Galway Plate,” said Martin.

“He has a lot of weight with 11st 7lb but if the weights don’t go up it’s an option.

“There is also a three-mile and a two-mile hurdle at Galway, but he’ll probably head for the Plate.”

Martin said the Killarney race had left a bit of a mark on Royal County Star but he was not too concerned.

“He’s a bit tender – more than he is usually – but I’m sure he’ll be grand in a couple of days,” he told At The Races.

“It was only a five-runner race but it was quite rough.”

Martin has plenty of other options for the Plate, with the likes of Northern Alliance, Green Mile, Reisk Superman and Aggie’s Lad still in the mix.

Many of these could be seen warming up at Killarney and Martin added: “It all depends on their preps and how they are training before Galway.

“We’ll get this week out of the way first.”