Highlight of the day
The Ballybrit crowd love to see course regulars returning to the west every year, and Dunum has been a most dependable ally to punters down here for several years. He was a deserving winner of the day-two highlight for the Natalia Lupini team, who have managed him so well for these big days.
Ride of the day
It’s tough to look beyond Seamie Heffernan and how he excelled from the front on Dunum in the Colm Quinn BMW Mile. A tip of the hat to Sam Coen too, though, for his last-gasp effort on Castleheath to dead-heat with Heliogabalus. The 7lb-claiming apprentice met all sorts of traffic, but showed guts down the paint to force a share of the spoils.
Performance of the day
For all that her main rival Amelia Earhart didn’t run straight and true, there was a bit of a ‘wow factor’ with what Pivotal Attack delivered up the hill in the two-year-old fillies’ maiden. No horse over the first two days of the festival covered the final furlong in anything near as quick a time as her - 12.17 seconds.
Market mover of the day
Usually we flag those who shorten up in this category, but the drift on King Of Kingsfield was the most alarming market move of the day - returning at 7/2 (from 11/8). He defied those ring expectations and won easily enough. Pivotal Attack was by no means unbacked in the fillies’ maiden either, scoring readily at 9/2 (from a morning price of 12/1).
In-running carnage of the day
The opening listed novice hurdle saw a host of runners look the likeliest winner at different stages. La Note Verte went as short as 6/5, stablemate Vicar Street hit a low of 4/5 and even Emily Love (sent off 13/2) traded at 6/4. In contrast, Sticktotheplan, with an SP of 22/1, matched at as big as 84/1 in-running. Elsewhere, My Great Mate traded at 2/9 before finishing second to King Of Kingsfield, Amelia Earhart hit 3/10 before her waywardness at the top of the straight, 11/1 runner-up Bear Profit went close to 4/7 in the feature event, while the pair who dead-heated in the last, Heliogabalus (12/1) and Castleheath (17/2) hit 20/1 and 28/1 in-running respectively.
Eye-catcher of the day
The drop to seven furlongs had the potential to be sharper than ideal for Alpha Capture and the fact that it paid to be handy certainly wouldn’t have done him any favours in coming from a little behind (and out wide). Still, the Willie Mullins-trained handicapper hit the line strongly (faster than anything else in the final two furlongs in this race, won by Summer Snow) and there’s every chance he can do some damage off an unchanged mark of 77, and he’s declared to run back over a much more suitable trip here on Saturday.
Stat of the day
We’re very used to the major festivals, under both codes, being dominated by a small number of stables and jockeys - but it was anything but that over the first two days at Galway. Across the first 14 races, there were 14 different winning jockeys and 14 different winning trainers. It all adds to the appeal of Ballybrit to see lots of different operators getting in on the act.
Quote of the day
“I can’t believe it. To be a restricted trainer at the Galway Festival, taking on the big guys and beating them… You can’t beat it. I’m hoarse again! The odd winner I get, I roar them home. I haven’t booked in anywhere yet, but I’m not going home! I’ll sleep in the back of the van tonight” - Peter Lawlor was walking on air after Summer Snow obliged.