UP-AND-COMING conditional jockey Eoin Staples recorded the biggest win of his fledgling career when getting up in just the nick of time to land the €80,000 BoyleSports Galway Tribes Handicap Hurdle on 22/1 outsider Come On The Lads.
It was nearly a month to the day that the Co Wexford native had his first ride as a conditional, having caught the eye of many in point-to-point circles during the season just gone, and he looked fine value for his 7lb claim in partnering Gavin Cromwell’s dual-purpose performer to victory.
What a buy Come On The Lads has proven to be for the Lads Partnership too, having been picked up for just €13,000 out of a claimer last October. A head separated the Elzaam five-year-old and 7/2 favourite Toll Stone at the line, with another half length back to Messerschmitt and Sequoiaspirit in a bunched finish.
Staples, who shared the INHSC novice rider series title last season, said: “I’m delighted for the horse and his great bunch of owners – I’m sure they’ll enjoy the celebrations later. It’s special to ride a winner here at the festival. Gavin has been a big help to me since I’ve turned conditional and I’m delighted to repay the trust he’s put in me. It’s been brilliant.”
Come On The Lads would have been a most unlucky loser had he not managed to get in front, given he suffered serious interference at the first hurdle and did well to stand up.
Cromwell added: “Eoin didn’t panic after what happened at the first and went to sleep behind them; he did everything right. It didn’t look likely that he’d win but he gave him a great ride. The race probably fell apart a little and he came home strongly. It’s great that it worked out for us. I thought he might have been a bit exposed to the handicapper. He’s not a big horse, but he’s been great for the syndicate.”
Some prospect
Willie Mullins was shut out in the feature races during the week, but a win in the Salthill Hotel Irish EBF Mares Bumper with Some Pretender ensured he finished the week as leading trainer at the Galway Festival for the 10th consecutive year.
Patrick Mullins had unusually been drawing a blank at the meeting before guiding the Syndicates.Racing-owned newcomer to victory here, and he had a willing partner in getting the better of Midnight Musical by three-quarters of a length.
The Great Pretender five-year-old hails from a useful family and looks a decent prospect in her own right.
“There’s a good following here from Syndicates.Racing,” said the champion trainer.
“She had worked nicely at home and we knew coming here she was good enough, if she got the breaks.
“I’d imagine we’ll think about going for the Listed [Mucklemeg] Bumper at Gowran [on October 3rd] before we go jumping as I can see improvement in her on softer ground, being by Great Pretender. She’s a fine big mare and I think we’ll give her an easy time now.”
KEVIN Coleman’s finest hour in the saddle came at this meeting back in 2007 when landing the Galway Plate with Sir Frederick, and he got a big kick out of training his first winner at the festival through the improving Thatwilldoso in the McDonogh Capital Investments Handicap.
A winner on her most recent start at Roscommon, the lightly raced four-year-old was one of the last horses in at the bottom of the handicap and Rory Cleary, riding his second winner of the week at Ballybrit, swept through in the final 50 yards to break Burren Song’s heart by half a length.
Speaking after the 10/1 success in the colours of the ThatWillDoSo Syndicate, Coleman quipped: “I’d say my last winner here was on Sir Frederick.
“I never come here and this is only my third runner as a trainer here. It’s a place I wouldn’t come to unless you have a chance and we knew she had a chance, so this is great.
“She was in very good form coming here but with the Galway factor, we didn’t know. Then I saw her dropping back through the field, but she obviously came around them again. We always wanted to go this far with her [a mile and a half], but this is the first opportunity to run her over this trip and she stayed at it well. They all give them good rides when they win, but it was a very good ride from Rory.”
Slattery’s super run
It was a cracking week in the west for fellow Co Tipperary-based trainer Andy Slattery, and he made it three winners for the week when recent Tipperary debut bumper winner Ebony King maintained his unbeaten record in the two-mile BoyleSports Maiden Hurdle – despite being easy to back at 9/1.
Cian Quirke, carrying the colours of the Ladies’ Choice Partnership, was always positive on the four-year-old by deceased sire Berkshire in this two-and-a-half-length victory over Tatateo. The pair pulled 17 lengths clear of the rest.
Slattery said: “He’s a lovely horse who we’re only really half-training because’s he’s so light and weak. We don’t know how good he is. Cian said he’s a fair horse. Instead of training him last year, we did a lot of jumping with him instead and it paid off there. Tipperary and here are the only two real gallops he has done.
“I don’t know if he’d go in the depths of winter in terms of ground, but we’ll see. He was bred by Tom Meagher’s Kedrah House Stud; his wife and her sisters are involved in the Ladies’ Choice Partnership for this horse.”
THE Whiriskey Refrigeration Irish EBF Maiden for two-year-olds over a mile featured Group 1 winner Tennessee Stud, Lingfield Derby Trial scorer Puppet Master and 92-rated maiden winner Delta from just a six-runner renewal 12 months ago. When the same race also saw Australian Group 1 hero Buckaroo and Leopardstown Derby Trial winner Stone Age finish 1-2 in 2021, this is a maiden that close attention ought to be paid to.
The 2025 scorer Action doesn’t look the finished article by any means yet, but showed plenty of natural ability under Wayne Lordan for Aidan O’Brien and the Coolmore partners. This Frankel colt had been an eye-catching third to the yard’s New Zealand on debut at the Curragh, and had his form boosted on the same afternoon as this when the runner-up from that contest, stablemate Isaac Newton, won a maiden at Goodwood.
The 4/9 favourite is a close relation to Lordan’s dual-Derby star Lambourn and was always doing enough to beat a plucky Perisher by a length and a quarter.
“Wayne knows the family inside out and they have been very good to him,” said stable representative Chris Armstrong.
“He’s a smashing colt and had a lovely run at the Curragh in what I’d say was a very strong maiden. It was his first time out in front and he was very green and raw, but once he asked him, he found the line well.
“You probably won’t see the best of him until he goes up in trip. He’s now in the mix for something like the Golden Fleece on Champions Weekend and then maybe a Futurity Trophy or another Group 1 in France. He has the right attitude and, if he follows in his brother’s footsteps, he’ll be nice.”
Blue Moon rising
Andrew Kinirons got off the mark at this meeting last year with a double and continued the winning theme at the 2025 festival when Blue Moon Boy followed in the footsteps of stablemate Flying Bay by causing a 22/1 upset in the Bathshack Maiden over an extended mile.
Luke McAteer was at his strongest in getting the much-improved three-year-old on top in the shadows of the post, and Gerhard Matte’s home-bred found generously for his rider’s urgings to prevail in a bunched finish.
The Gustav Klimt gelding, who hadn’t hinted at obvious maiden-winning potential in two previous starts, prevailed by a nose from Gavin Cromwell’s 3/1 joint-favourite Smithfield and fellow market leader Spanish Princess.
Kinirons said: “We thought a good bit of him last year but he just disappointed, although he got going late the last day at Killarney where he hit the line well. It was a nice step forward today, so he was just obviously babyish and the penny is after dropping. He likes a cut in the ground.
“He’s owned by a lovely man from Germany, who I have never actually met and has never been to see the horse, but is a great supporter of mine. He keeps his mares in a stud in Offaly and I had a couple of horses for the stud.”
Storm blows them away
You never know exactly how a horse will fare on their second start of the week at Galway, yet it brought the absolute best out in the Mick Mulvany-trained Storm Averted, who bolted up in the seven-furlong Ardilaun Hotel Handicap after finishing a close fourth behind Castleheath here on day two.
In his pre-Galway comments in The Irish Field, Mulvany nominated the No Chance Syndicate’s four-year-old as one of his best chances of the week, and Wesley Joyce’s mount made no mistake in shooting three and a quarter lengths clear of the 15-runner field.
Mulvany said of the 7/1 winner: “She was a bit unlucky on Tuesday night as she became unbalanced off the last bend and was only beaten half a length. She had finished second in a maiden here last year, so we were confident, and the soft ground didn’t inconvenience her.
“I’m delighted for the syndicate, though most of them aren’t here today because seemingly there was a wedding involved this afternoon. They had to do what they were told!”
IT was a completely unsatisfactory situation that saw Dream On Baby left at the start in the main event, but arguably even more so the manner in which her subsequent declaration as a non-runner was communicated.
There were reports of on-course bookmakers being left out of pocket due to the delay in rule four implications being announced over the PA system on track, and it felt as though there surely was a better way for the whole situation to be communicated to everyone on track.
There was also an unfortunate postscript to the €110,000 BoyleSports Handicap Hurdle when the Closutton Racing Club’s Maughreen suffered a career-ending injury.
Rory Cleary has already ridden more winners so far this year than he did in the entirety of 2024, and he made it a fine week’s work when Thatwilldoso brought up a festival double for the 38-year-old rider. He gave Kevin Coleman’s filly a fine steer and has been riding with plenty of confidence through the season.
As for the rest of the flat action, if we saw a standout group prospect on the card, it was the Aidan O’Brien-trained Action. He probably didn’t have to improve from his debut third to win this two-year-old maiden, but this was a performance that indicated he has bundles of talent and has any amount of improvement to come.