Don't miss Donn McClean's horse-by-horse guide to Tote Galway Plate and 1-2-3-4 verdict.
1. Easy Game
Finished second in the Galway Plate last year, just a length behind his stable companion Royal Rendezvous. He is 3lb higher now than he was then, but he is a classy chaser, he is four for four this season, and he warmed up for this nicely with an impressive victory at Tramore last time.
2. Gabynako
We haven’t seen him since he finished third behind Blue Lord in the Grade 1 Barberstown Castle Novice Chase at the Punchestown Festival, but he can go well fresh. His record after a break of 50 days or more reads 3222. He finished second in the Arkle at Cheltenham in March, but he is probably better over further than the minimum trip: he won his beginners’ chase over two miles and five furlongs. Also, on his only run at Galway, he went down by just a head to this year’s Grand National winner Noble Yeats in a beginners’ chase last October.
3. Hewick
He was a seriously impressive winner of the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown last April and, while this trip may be on the sharp side for him, he ran a big race in a good handicap hurdle at Ballinrobe last time, going down by just a head to progressive mare Metersandmasks. He is only 6lb higher now he was when he won at Sandown in April and, a seven-year-old who has raced just seven times over fences, he retains plenty of scope for progression.
4. Daly Tiger
He fell at the second last fence in a Grade 3 chase at Cork in April the last time we saw him, when he was probably fighting a losing battle. He is a talented performer at his best though, he won the Dan & Joan Moore Memorial Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse in January 2021, but the handicapper hasn’t relented much of late and he is going to have to be close to his best if he is going to be involved.
5. Cape Gentleman
Third in the Galway Hurdle last year, he shaped like a talented novice chaser in his first three runs over fences last autumn before falling at the fourth last fence when still travelling well in the Grade 1 Drinmore Chase at Fairyhouse last November. He hasn’t run since then, but he is a classy individual, he has won an Irish Cesarewitch and a Dovecote Hurdle, and trainer Emmet Mullins is always a man to be respected at Galway.
6. The Shunter
Another Emmet Mullins representative, he finished fourth in last year’s Galway Plate, and he gets to race off the same handicap mark of 152. He is another talented performer, he won the Paddy Power Plate at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival and he finished second behind Protektorat in the Grade 1 Manifesto Chase at last year’s Aintree Grand National meeting. He warmed up for Galway with a nice performance in winning a maiden on the flat at Sligo in May, and he is Mark Walsh’s pick of the horses owned by JP McManus, who has had four winners and 10 horses finish in the first three in the Plate in the last 12 years.
7. Annamix
He ran a big race to finish third in the Topham Chase at Aintree in April, but he couldn’t build on that at the Punchestown Festival last time. He has had a nice break since, but he was pulled up in last year’s Galway Plate, he was beaten in the Arthur Guinness Chase two days later on his only other run at Galway, and Paul Townend prefers El Barra.
8. El Barra
He has won two of his last three chases, including a good novices’ handicap chase at the Punchestown Festival last time, over close to the Galway Plate distance, in which he made just about all the running and ran out an impressive winner. That race has been won in the recent past by his stable companions Asterion Forlonge and Kemboy. He is 10lb higher now in the handicap than he was then, but he has raced just five times over fences, he has the potential to progress again, and he is the choice of Paul Townend.
9. Notebook
A dual Grade 1 winner as a novice, he won the Grade 2 Fortria Chase at Navan on his debut last season. He hasn’t won since then, but he has been dropping down the weights however, the handicapper dropped him by another 4lb for his latest run behind Easy Game at Tramore, which leaves him on a mark of 150, 13lb lower than his peak rating, and now 10lb better off with Easy Game for a 10 length beating. First-time cheekpieces could elicit some improvement.
10. Ronald Pump
He hasn’t won since he won a beginners’ chase at Fairyhouse in November 2019, but he has put up some mighty performances in defeat in the interim, including when he finished second, a half a length behind Honeysuckle, in the 2020 Hatton’s Grace Hurdle, and when he was beaten just a half a length by Diol Ker in the Leinster National at Naas in March. He gets to race off a chase rating of 150, 4lb lower than his hurdles mark.
11. A Wave Of The Sea
A high-class juvenile hurdler, he proved his ability to operate in big-field handicap chases when he won the 20-runner Matheson Handicap Chase at Leopardstown’s Dublin Racing Festival in 2021, and he followed in the same race last February, albeit in a smaller field. He is only 7lb higher now, and he had his first run back after a break in the Grade 3 Grimes Hurdle at Tipperary four weeks ago.
12. Battleoverdoyen
A high-class performer at his best, he did win the Arthur Guinness Chase at last year’s Galway Festival after finishing well down the field in the Plate. He is 7lb lower in the handicap than he was last year, and he will have Davy Russell for company.
13. Castlegrace Paddy
He is 11 now, but he was a high-class performer at his best, a triple Grade 2 winner over fences, and he looked good in winning a qualified riders’ maiden on the flat at Killarney two weeks ago, his first run on the flat. He is down to a chase mark of 149, 8lb lower than his peak.
14. Darasso
He proved that he retains lots of ability when he ran out an impressive winner of a Grade 2 hurdle at the Irish Grand National meeting at Fairyhouse in April. He hasn’t run over fences since he ran in the Kerry National at Listowel in September last year, but he wasn’t beaten far in the Galway Plate last year, and he is 2lb lower now than he was then.
15. Early Doors
He hasn’t won since he won the Galway Plate in 2020, but he has run just five times in that time, and he wasn’t beaten far in the Irish Grand National in April. He wore cheekpieces for the first time when he won the Plate in 2020, and he wears blinkers for the first time now. He obviously goes well at the track too, he is a Galway Plate winner, and he finished second in a beginners’ chase on his only other run there.
16. Exelerator Express
Winner of five of his last 11 chases, he probably put up a career-best performance when he battled on well to win a three-mile-one-furlong chase under a big weight at Aintree in May. A close-up third behind the progressive Minella Trump at Perth last time, when he was badly hampered at the first fence, he gets to compete off a 2lb lower mark now, and that gives him a chance.
17. Hurricane Georgie
She is in a rich vein of form now, having won her last three, her two wins over hurdles followed by an impressive performance last time in winning the Midlands National at Kilbeggan. She is 11lb higher now, but she is still only five and, representing a trainer who has won three of the last six renewals of the Plate, there is no knowing when her rate of progress will start to flatten out.
18. The Jam Man
An impressive winner of the Troytown Chase at Navan in November 2020 off a mark of 129, he is 16lb higher now, but he proved that he was up to this type of mark over hurdles last winter with fine runs in handicap hurdles at Navan and Warwick, and he has won five times on good or faster ground. He wears blinkers for the first time now, and he didn’t run badly on the flat at The Curragh last month in finishing fourth behind Monday’s Connacht Hotel Handicap runner-up Maze Runner.
19. Ash Tree Meadow
A progressive novice hurdler last season, he has won three of his four chases this season, most recently a novices’ contest over an extended two miles at Killarney 11 days ago in which he made all and won easily. A point-to-point winner who won over two and a half miles over hurdles and over fences, he lacks experience in big-field handicap chases, he has faced no more than five rivals in any of his chases to date, but he has the potential to go beyond his handicap rating of 144.
20. Fire Attack
Winner of his beginners’ chase at Wexford last October, he has been sparingly raced since, and he was impressive in making all to win a handicap chase at Punchestown at the end of May. Trainer Joseph O’Brien mentioned the Galway Plate as a potential target after that race and a handicap rating of 144 is more than workable. The ground and the trip should be good for him, and he could be a big player.
21. Gin On Lime
A prolific novice chaser last summer, she hasn’t won since she was gifted a novices’ chase at Cheltenham last November. She only just gave best to a talented and progressive mare last time at Limerick however, and, representing a trainer who has won the Plate twice in the last seven years, her prominent style of racing is usually an asset in this race.
22. Discordantly
Winner of a handicap chase over the Plate course and distance in October 2020 on his only run to date at Galway, he only just went down to last year’s Plate winner Royal Rendezvous in a good handicap chase at the Punchestown Festival the last time we saw him. He is only 1lb higher now, his trainer has her horses in tremendous form, and he has a proven ability to operate in these big handicap chases.
23. Exit Poll
First reserve, he was in top form last autumn, and he ran better than suggested by the bare form of his run at Killarney last time, when he made a bad mistake at the second last fence, but he the handicapper may have his measure for now.
24. Samcro
Second reserve, he finished well down the field in last year’s renewal when he raced off a handicap rating of 158 and carried top weight. The handicapper has given him a chance, he is 16lb lower now than he was last year, but he would have to bounce back.
25. Unexcepted
Third reserve, he ran far better than his finishing position suggests last time at Killarney, when he did well to get back into the race after making a bad mistake at the fifth fence. That was his second run for Padraig Roche and, if he could return to the form that saw him beat Entoucas by eight lengths in a beginners’ chase at Tipperary in October 2020, that would bring him into it. Rated 148 at his peak, he is 7lb lower now, and he could run well at a decent price if he does get into the race.
Verdict
- Fire Attack
- Hurricane Georgie
- Cape Gentleman
- Unexcepted (if getting a run)
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