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17 Jul 12
14:14
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By Thomas Kelly independent.ie
Tuesday July 17 2012
Oliver McKiernan's three-time Grade One winner Follow The Plan has been given the unenviable task of carrying top-weight of 11st 10lb in the tote.com Galway Plate.
The nine-year-old, whose latest success came in the Betfred Bowl at Aintree, could be joined by stablemate Whodoyouthink (10st 6lb) in the prestigious chase over two and three-quarter miles on August 1.
The last two winners, Blazing Tempo and Finger Onthe Pulse, have been handed 11st 3lb and 10st 5lb. Blazing Tempo's trainer Willie Mullins has two other possibles in Blackstairmountain (10st 11lb) and Raptor (10st 2lb).
Among the British-trained contingent are Evan Williams' Tiger O'Toole (9st 10lb), Venetia Williams' Idarah (9st 7lb) and the Nicky Richards-trained Peachey Moment (9st 7lb).
As for the Guinness Galway Hurdle, Tony Mullins has a contingency plan just in case Clarach does not make the cut for the big race. The valuable handicap on Thursday, August 2 has been the long-term objective for the seven-year-old mare for some time, but on studying the entries with weights, Mullins has discovered Clarach is not guaranteed a place in the maximum 20-strong field.
As a result, Mullins will take the precaution of entering Clarach in a two-mile amateur handicap on the Flat on Monday week at the Ballybrit track.
"We've been aiming at the Galway Hurdle all year. There's also the two-mile amateur handicap on the Flat on the Monday and, after seeing the entries, she's not yet certain to get in the hurdle," said the Gowran trainer. "She needs about seven to come out, so if there is a danger of her being balloted out of the Galway Hurdle, we might have to divert to the Flat race."
Clarach has been given 10st 4lb in the €156,000 event with the weights headed on 11st 10lb by The Real Article, which started favourite 12 months ago. Last year's winner Moon Dice comes next on 11st 6lb.
Among the British possibles are Local Hero, Lexi's Boy, Unknown Rebel and Idarah.
Dermot Weld would like to see an improvement in the weather ahead of Princess Highway's bid for the Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Sunday. Weld has high hopes for Princess Highway, which impressed with a six-length romp in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, beating Epsom Oaks third The Fugue.
Former top-class sprinter Starspangledbanner could make his racecourse comeback in Saturday's Minstrel Stakes. Aidan O'Brien's Australian import could face stern opposition, with Weld's Emulous among the 11 possibles, as is John Oxx's Takar and Akeed Wafi, along with classy British raiders Firebeam and Penitent.
- Thomas Kelly
Tuesday July 17 2012
Oliver McKiernan's three-time Grade One winner Follow The Plan has been given the unenviable task of carrying top-weight of 11st 10lb in the tote.com Galway Plate.
The nine-year-old, whose latest success came in the Betfred Bowl at Aintree, could be joined by stablemate Whodoyouthink (10st 6lb) in the prestigious chase over two and three-quarter miles on August 1.
The last two winners, Blazing Tempo and Finger Onthe Pulse, have been handed 11st 3lb and 10st 5lb. Blazing Tempo's trainer Willie Mullins has two other possibles in Blackstairmountain (10st 11lb) and Raptor (10st 2lb).
Among the British-trained contingent are Evan Williams' Tiger O'Toole (9st 10lb), Venetia Williams' Idarah (9st 7lb) and the Nicky Richards-trained Peachey Moment (9st 7lb).
As for the Guinness Galway Hurdle, Tony Mullins has a contingency plan just in case Clarach does not make the cut for the big race. The valuable handicap on Thursday, August 2 has been the long-term objective for the seven-year-old mare for some time, but on studying the entries with weights, Mullins has discovered Clarach is not guaranteed a place in the maximum 20-strong field.
As a result, Mullins will take the precaution of entering Clarach in a two-mile amateur handicap on the Flat on Monday week at the Ballybrit track.
"We've been aiming at the Galway Hurdle all year. There's also the two-mile amateur handicap on the Flat on the Monday and, after seeing the entries, she's not yet certain to get in the hurdle," said the Gowran trainer. "She needs about seven to come out, so if there is a danger of her being balloted out of the Galway Hurdle, we might have to divert to the Flat race."
Clarach has been given 10st 4lb in the €156,000 event with the weights headed on 11st 10lb by The Real Article, which started favourite 12 months ago. Last year's winner Moon Dice comes next on 11st 6lb.
Among the British possibles are Local Hero, Lexi's Boy, Unknown Rebel and Idarah.
Dermot Weld would like to see an improvement in the weather ahead of Princess Highway's bid for the Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh on Sunday. Weld has high hopes for Princess Highway, which impressed with a six-length romp in the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, beating Epsom Oaks third The Fugue.
Former top-class sprinter Starspangledbanner could make his racecourse comeback in Saturday's Minstrel Stakes. Aidan O'Brien's Australian import could face stern opposition, with Weld's Emulous among the 11 possibles, as is John Oxx's Takar and Akeed Wafi, along with classy British raiders Firebeam and Penitent.
- Thomas Kelly
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Paul Carberry to miss Galway
http://www.herald.ie
JOCKEY Paul Carberry will miss the Galway Festival, which gets under way in just over a week, after the former Champion Jockey fractured his shoulder at Killarney on Thursday.
Noel Meade's stable jockey, who has enjoyed a very good start to the season since Punchestown, was taking a rare ride for trainer Jessica Harrington aboard Chino Valdes when the pair crashed out at the third-last.
Carberry was deputising on Harrington's charge as her stable jockey, Robert Power, changed codes to take his place in the Eventing Grand Prix at the Royal International Horse Show in England.
Incidentally, Power finished a very creditable third on his debut, but Carberry revealed his disappointing news via Twitter where he said: "Just got out of hospital fracture to my left shoulder blade bummer" before adding: "Out for 4 to 6 weeks."
Carberry was lying third in the jockeys' championship behind Ruby Walsh and amateur Patrick Mullins prior to last night's incident.
http://www.herald.ie
JOCKEY Paul Carberry will miss the Galway Festival, which gets under way in just over a week, after the former Champion Jockey fractured his shoulder at Killarney on Thursday.
Noel Meade's stable jockey, who has enjoyed a very good start to the season since Punchestown, was taking a rare ride for trainer Jessica Harrington aboard Chino Valdes when the pair crashed out at the third-last.
Carberry was deputising on Harrington's charge as her stable jockey, Robert Power, changed codes to take his place in the Eventing Grand Prix at the Royal International Horse Show in England.
Incidentally, Power finished a very creditable third on his debut, but Carberry revealed his disappointing news via Twitter where he said: "Just got out of hospital fracture to my left shoulder blade bummer" before adding: "Out for 4 to 6 weeks."
Carberry was lying third in the jockeys' championship behind Ruby Walsh and amateur Patrick Mullins prior to last night's incident.
By Richard Forristal
Friday July 27 2012
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Carlingford Lough, one of three co-favourites for next Thursday's Guinness Galway Hurdle, needs just a single scratching from the 20 horses above him in the weights to get into the €260,000 showpiece following yesterday's latest raft of declarations.
Trained by Dungarvan's John Kiely, who has triumphed in the feature twice before, the JP McManus-owned six-year-old has won three of his five hurdle starts, including a handicap at the Ballybrit Festival in 2011. A ready scorer at Bellewstown recently, he is as low as 8/1 clear favourite with some firms, and his place in the final line-up, in which he currently has 10st 3lb, looks almost guaranteed, though fellow market leaders Rebel Fitz (11st 5lb) and Lexi's Boy (10st 6lb) are assured their places already.
Brendan Duke's in-form Mister Benedictine (10st 3lb) needs two to come out if he's to get in, while Tony Mullins' prolific Clarach is now expected to skip Monday evening's amateur riders' event after making the cut for the Hurdle. The last one on the 64-strong list sure to get in, Clarach will carry 10st 4lb if top-weight The Real Article lines off 11st 10lb.
All the market leaders have made the cut for thetote.com Galway Plate 24 hours earlier, with Follow The Plan (11st 10lb) and Mostly Bob (9st 9lb), the first and last of the 42 remaining entries assured a place in the final 22.
Kiely's Wise Old Owl (10st 12lb), second last year, is 12/1 to go one better this time, with Willie Mullins, whose 2011 heroine Blazing Tempo (11st 3lb) is again engaged, responsible for the 7/1 favourite Blackstairmountain (10st 11lb).
In Tuesday's €115,000 Topaz Mile, Custom Cut, winner of its last four for Tramore-based George Kent, is the highest rated of the 20 entries that were made for the race yesterday.
There are two possible English contenders, with Ed De Giles confirming Spa's Dancer, second in a valuable handicap at the Curragh on Derby weekend, an intended starter.
- Richard Forristal
Irish Independent
Friday July 27 2012
Be the first to comment
Carlingford Lough, one of three co-favourites for next Thursday's Guinness Galway Hurdle, needs just a single scratching from the 20 horses above him in the weights to get into the €260,000 showpiece following yesterday's latest raft of declarations.
Trained by Dungarvan's John Kiely, who has triumphed in the feature twice before, the JP McManus-owned six-year-old has won three of his five hurdle starts, including a handicap at the Ballybrit Festival in 2011. A ready scorer at Bellewstown recently, he is as low as 8/1 clear favourite with some firms, and his place in the final line-up, in which he currently has 10st 3lb, looks almost guaranteed, though fellow market leaders Rebel Fitz (11st 5lb) and Lexi's Boy (10st 6lb) are assured their places already.
Brendan Duke's in-form Mister Benedictine (10st 3lb) needs two to come out if he's to get in, while Tony Mullins' prolific Clarach is now expected to skip Monday evening's amateur riders' event after making the cut for the Hurdle. The last one on the 64-strong list sure to get in, Clarach will carry 10st 4lb if top-weight The Real Article lines off 11st 10lb.
All the market leaders have made the cut for thetote.com Galway Plate 24 hours earlier, with Follow The Plan (11st 10lb) and Mostly Bob (9st 9lb), the first and last of the 42 remaining entries assured a place in the final 22.
Kiely's Wise Old Owl (10st 12lb), second last year, is 12/1 to go one better this time, with Willie Mullins, whose 2011 heroine Blazing Tempo (11st 3lb) is again engaged, responsible for the 7/1 favourite Blackstairmountain (10st 11lb).
In Tuesday's €115,000 Topaz Mile, Custom Cut, winner of its last four for Tramore-based George Kent, is the highest rated of the 20 entries that were made for the race yesterday.
There are two possible English contenders, with Ed De Giles confirming Spa's Dancer, second in a valuable handicap at the Curragh on Derby weekend, an intended starter.
- Richard Forristal
Irish Independent
Parramatta should go well in mares’ bumper
By Jessica Harrington http://www.irishexaminer.com
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Next week's Galway Festival is the focus of interest for all Irish racing enthusiasts but before getting immersed in the Ballybrit meeting, I've come across to London for the first few days of the Olympic Games.
I'm over here with the Irish Three-day Eventing Team and will be here until Tuesday. Hopefully it will be a successful Games for the team and I wish them the very best of luck in their endeavours.
Back at home, we had a good winner at Leopardstown on Thursday when Fairy Wing raced clear in the seven-furlong handicap. It was brilliant to see him win off a mark of 72, having run off a mark of 50 this time last year. He has won four times for us in that period.
He is entered in a couple of races at Galway next week and is likely to run but we'll have to see what the handicapper does to him.
I was delighted with the run of Takeyourcapoff in the mile and six handicap. It was a very tough race and she ran as well as we could have expected. She has options at Galway but we’ll most likely aim her at the mares’ handicap hurdle towards the end of the week.
Ballybacka Lady made her debut for us in the Meld Stakes and she ran a super race to finish second behind Famous Name.
She won the 1000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown last year, when trained by Pat Fahy, and obviously has plenty of class.
She showed us that she should stay a bit further than nine furlongs and that opens up more options for her. Her main target for this season will be the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown on September 8.
We also had a number of runners at Limerick on Thursday and Gimli’s Rock really seems to like that track as he always performs well there. He finished a very good second behind Baily Green in a decent novices’ chase.
Bullock Harbour was a bit disappointing when only fifth in the same race and I don’t know what happened to him.
There is obviously something amiss with Serein as he ran no sort of race in the Beginners’ Chase on the same card. I don’t know what it is yet but we’ll have to try and get to the bottom of it.
At the Curragh on Sunday, Bendzoldan ran another super race. She literally just got touched off - I couldn’t believe it.
Nevertheless, it was a great effort as the ground wasn’t to her liking and less than four months ago she was running on the all-weather off a mark of just 47. On Sunday she ran off 75 and in her five runs since April, she has won three times and finished second twice.
She has options at Galway but we’ll run her wherever we think she might get the best ground.
Princess Sinead was disappointing at the Curragh and that was her last race for us as she will be continuing her career in America.
Looking ahead to our other possible runners at Galway, I’d love to get Citizenship into the Qualified Riders’ race on Monday.
He won well on the flat at Killarney last week and is in very good form but he needs a number of the entries to drop out.
He is also entered in the Galway Hurdle and it’s a similar situation. He won the ****.com Hurdle at Leopardstown earlier in the year and so has shown an ability to handle big-field handicap hurdles.
It would be super if he could sneak in at the bottom of the handicap but he needs seven to come out.
I’m looking forward to running Alpine Eagle in the Plate. He really wants good ground but if he gets it he could go well off just 9-12.
Royal Blue Star has an entry in the Topaz Mile on Tuesday - a race in which she was second last year - but we may wait for the Listed race later in the week.
Looking to the weekend, we have runners at Wexford this afternoon and our best chance should lie with Parramatta in the mares’ winners’ bumper.
She won very well at Ballinrobe back in May and is in good form. We’re hoping she’ll run a big race for Kate.
By Jessica Harrington http://www.irishexaminer.com
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Next week's Galway Festival is the focus of interest for all Irish racing enthusiasts but before getting immersed in the Ballybrit meeting, I've come across to London for the first few days of the Olympic Games.
I'm over here with the Irish Three-day Eventing Team and will be here until Tuesday. Hopefully it will be a successful Games for the team and I wish them the very best of luck in their endeavours.
Back at home, we had a good winner at Leopardstown on Thursday when Fairy Wing raced clear in the seven-furlong handicap. It was brilliant to see him win off a mark of 72, having run off a mark of 50 this time last year. He has won four times for us in that period.
He is entered in a couple of races at Galway next week and is likely to run but we'll have to see what the handicapper does to him.
I was delighted with the run of Takeyourcapoff in the mile and six handicap. It was a very tough race and she ran as well as we could have expected. She has options at Galway but we’ll most likely aim her at the mares’ handicap hurdle towards the end of the week.
Ballybacka Lady made her debut for us in the Meld Stakes and she ran a super race to finish second behind Famous Name.
She won the 1000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown last year, when trained by Pat Fahy, and obviously has plenty of class.
She showed us that she should stay a bit further than nine furlongs and that opens up more options for her. Her main target for this season will be the Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown on September 8.
We also had a number of runners at Limerick on Thursday and Gimli’s Rock really seems to like that track as he always performs well there. He finished a very good second behind Baily Green in a decent novices’ chase.
Bullock Harbour was a bit disappointing when only fifth in the same race and I don’t know what happened to him.
There is obviously something amiss with Serein as he ran no sort of race in the Beginners’ Chase on the same card. I don’t know what it is yet but we’ll have to try and get to the bottom of it.
At the Curragh on Sunday, Bendzoldan ran another super race. She literally just got touched off - I couldn’t believe it.
Nevertheless, it was a great effort as the ground wasn’t to her liking and less than four months ago she was running on the all-weather off a mark of just 47. On Sunday she ran off 75 and in her five runs since April, she has won three times and finished second twice.
She has options at Galway but we’ll run her wherever we think she might get the best ground.
Princess Sinead was disappointing at the Curragh and that was her last race for us as she will be continuing her career in America.
Looking ahead to our other possible runners at Galway, I’d love to get Citizenship into the Qualified Riders’ race on Monday.
He won well on the flat at Killarney last week and is in very good form but he needs a number of the entries to drop out.
He is also entered in the Galway Hurdle and it’s a similar situation. He won the ****.com Hurdle at Leopardstown earlier in the year and so has shown an ability to handle big-field handicap hurdles.
It would be super if he could sneak in at the bottom of the handicap but he needs seven to come out.
I’m looking forward to running Alpine Eagle in the Plate. He really wants good ground but if he gets it he could go well off just 9-12.
Royal Blue Star has an entry in the Topaz Mile on Tuesday - a race in which she was second last year - but we may wait for the Listed race later in the week.
Looking to the weekend, we have runners at Wexford this afternoon and our best chance should lie with Parramatta in the mares’ winners’ bumper.
She won very well at Ballinrobe back in May and is in good form. We’re hoping she’ll run a big race for Kate.
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