The Galway Plate or the Galway Hurdle: which is the mid-summer highlight for National Hunt fans? I don’t know if there is a correct answer, but it is probably a question many National Hunt fans have an opinion on but one that never bothered me leaving Galway if I managed to win one or the other.
Their value to the winner is equal so, in monetary terms, there is no difference, and they are both of significant value nowadays which has seen their quality rise year on year. Galway is the proof that prize money matters, and with the backing of a good sponsor and a forward-thinking board, the stature of the meeting’s marquee races continues to grow instead of standing still.
The bottom numbers, or lowest-weighted horses, in a handicap tell as much about the standard of a race as the top. Number 22 today is Discordantly, a three-time chase winner who has already amassed over €65,000 in prize money. He was the last horse to make the line-up for today’s contest, so he sets the minimum standard required to run.
Whatever chance you give him, it increased a little when his trainer Jessica Harrington bagged a treble here on Monday. His overall achievements show this race is no longer a chance for lesser steeds to bag a big pot.
Ten years ago, Bob Lingo won. Today he wouldn’t have made the reserves list, and only four of those who ran in the race would have made their way into the parade ring this afternoon.
That doesn’t mean finding today’s winners is more straightforward, because it’s still a handicap, and the top weighted horse of now, Easy Game, and then, Follow The Plan, were judged to be the same standard by the handicapper and given a rating of 160.
That means the bottom bar has risen and is closer to the top, so when Follow The Plan tried in 2012, he had to give His Excellency 2st 3lbs, whereas Easy Game only has to give to Discordantly 1st 3lbs. The range from top to bottom is precisely one stone less, which in theory should heighten the chances of those at the top because it was never about how much weight the top carried but how much they had to give away.
Four of the first five home last year carried over 11st, and three of those line up again today: Easy Game with 3lbs more, The Shunter carrying the same weight, and Darasso with 2lbs less. All have chances, but none seem unexposed to the handicapper.
Last year’s Galway Hurdle third, Cape Gentleman, is attractive too but has a rating 12lbs higher over fences than the previous year’s hurdle mark. That could be manageable with his age still allowing for natural improvement, but a 241-day layoff since a fall at Fairyhouse last November raises a question.
Fire Attack, Hewick, El Barra, Ash Tree Meadow and Hurricane Georgie all line up on the back of winning their last chase starts. Some required that win to get a high enough rating to line up, but they all have to carry the extra poundage those wins garnered. However, if tradition still exists, El Barra won the best Plate trial, but their now exposed nature only adds to the puzzle of solving the Galway Plate.
Battleoverdoyen and Early Doors both have course form, which can be a vital ingredient, but both are struggling for current form. Perhaps blinkers can get a spark for the latter, who landed this prize in 2020.
Course form is the concern for Gabynako, who looked home and hosed here last October before fading on the climb home. Noble Yeats ran him down, and maybe fitness played its part, but the soft finish lingers in the mind. Some will say the same about Gin On Lime, but I think she rallied up the hill and faltered for speed behind Fans De Blues over 2m2f. When they reopposed over further, she was a ready winner.
Castlegrace Paddy is down 7lbs from his highest career rating, but none of his five chase wins came near this distance, and the same goes for Notebook. Daly Tiger’s record beyond 2m4f is not impressive either and Annamix hasn’t won since November 2020. A Wave Of The Sea has three below-form runs here and three at Cheltenham, suggesting he likes a more level finish. I think these are five we can rule out.
The English raider Exelerator Express has won six of his 19 races but is zero from three going right-handed, and it depends on which side of the bed The Jam Man got out. Two of his last nine runs give him a chance, but the other seven don’t. That said, none of those has been over fences since his runaway win in the Troytown Chase in November of 2020, so we don’t yet know if his 16lb penalty has slowed him down.
That leaves Ronald Pump, whose record fresh is quite impressive. In 31 starts, he has never run at Galway, so he can’t be judged on course form but, as a seven-year-old, he was second to Lisnagar Oscar in the 2020 Stayers Hurdle.
He has chased Honeysuckle home in the last two runnings of the Hattons Grace and was second in the Leinster National in March.
He is still four pounds below his current hurdle rating and comes here fresh, having not run since the last fence fall on Easter Monday in the Irish Grand National. I am going with value in such a tight contest, and Ronald Pump fits that bill.
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