Softer Galway ground can help Rizal excel
STRONG CLAIMS: Trainer Johnny Murtagh can strike at Galway on Tuesday. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
Back in Galway for Tuesday afternoon’s action and the focus switches from National Hunt to Flat. On a competitive card, which features the listed Oyster Stakes, the nap comes in the James P Cunningham Electrical Handicap, which is the opportunity Rizal needs to get off the mark.
Unraced at two, Johnny Murtagh’s runner showed only a modicum of ability in three runs in maidens but there was more to be taken from his two starts to date in handicaps. The first of them was in a competitive race at the summer festival here and while he was slow to start and consequently never well positioned, he travelled strongly and would have finished considerably closer had he not encountered trouble in running.
