By Aodán Boland
It was a beautiful day here in Galway for Ladies Day and I hope you’ve been following our tips. We had two winners and three placed horses on Day Four. Its Friday and It’s time for my final selections of the week. Lets get straight into it and hopefully we can end the week on a high.
5.10 pm Guinness Handicap Hurdle
Bercasa won well here earlier this week and is expected to put up another bold bid. Kerosin, Lever Du Soleil and Avenir D’Une Vie are all of strong interest but I’ll go for Star Maker each way for Gordon Elliott and Davy Russell. He beat yesterday’s Hurdle winner, Tudor City at Killarney in May and he defiantly has enough quality to win a race of this nature at a big price.
5.45 pm James’s Gate Auction Maiden
Santiago was impressive last month at Leopardstown, finishing second on his debut to a more experienced rival. He should be up to winning this for Aidan O Brien. Alpine Star and Kassaba are his biggest threats.
6.15 pm Galway Blazers Handicap Chase
This looks like a wide open renewal of the Blazer Chase. JP McManus pair Tesseract and Treasure Chest are all of interest along with recent winners Mac N Cheese and Ocean Glandore, but I’ll go with Top Of The Charts for the in-form Gavin Cromwell yard. He is chasing a hat trick after winning his last two starts at Perth and Wexford and it would be no surprise to see him outrun his odds at a nice each way price.
6.50 pm Guinness Handicap
Mr Adjudicator ran a decent race to finish fourth here on Monday and he’s worth keeping an eye on along with yesterday’s Hurdle winner, Tudor City. Il Paradiso and War Diary have both been in the winners enclosure lately and should run there usual solid races but I’ll go for Ulster Oaks winner, Camphor who has been in tremendous form as of late and has a useful draw so she defiantly looks like the one to beat.
7.25 pm Guinness Fillies Maiden
Hazel Bay has finished second in two listed races and that form should be enough to win this fairly ordinary maiden for trainer Dermot Weld. Joseph O Brien’s newcomer, Mount Janna has a decent pedigree and is worth a market check on her debut.
7.55 pm Arthur Guinness Handicap
This looks like a tricky one. Raffaello is chasing a hat trick but has been handed a terrible draw, Munaajaat has been running well and could get involved but I’ll go for Dare To Flare who was an impressive winner at Fairyhouse last month and has useful 5 pound claimer, Ben Coen on his back so I expect him to go close for the Andrew Slattery yard.
8.25 pm Rockshore Race
The classiest horse in this race is Jessica Harrington’s, The King who drops down in grade and is probably good enough to win a race like this. However, Sneaky Getaway won a maiden last month at Leopardstown in style and could give the favorite a scare at a bigger price to close off Day Five at Ballybrit.
Image: RTE.ie