GALWAY has a habit of sprinkling stardust on its feature-race results each year, and few victories would be as popular next week than a Guinness Galway Hurdle triumph for Bill Durkan’s Laafi and young jockey Paddy O’Brien.

It was an agonising episode for connections to be stripped of their win in an Aintree Grand National Festival handicap hurdle win with the same horse when O’Brien was later found to have used his whip four times above the permitted level of seven strikes for jumps races in Britain.

That triggered an automatic disqualification for the lightly raced hurdler and a hefty 28-day ban for the up-and-coming 5lb claimer, who made his Cheltenham Festival breakthrough only a month earlier aboard Henry de Bromhead and Robcour’s Air Of Entitlement in the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle.

There was yet more heartache for connections when Laafi was chinned in the shadows of the post in the £80,000 Swinton Handicap Hurdle at Haydock 11 weeks ago. A day in the sun for all involved would feel well earned after a spring of near misses.

“It was very tough at Aintree for everyone,” says Gary Bannon, an integral part of the Durkan training operation.

“We knew we were first past the post, but it didn’t take long for us to get a sense that we could be in trouble. Of course it was hard to take, but we have a yard of horses. We have to keep going.

“Paddy was naturally upset. I’ve known him since he was 10 or 11 years old, he hunts with the local hunt and knows my dad. He’s local enough to me. He’s going to ride the horse again in the Galway Hurdle. I always think supporting friends down through the years makes it better. It’d be brilliant if it could click.”

Bannon added: “The Durkans do a lot of good for the game and are big supporters of the industry, so it’s important that they get to have a chance of a winner on big days like that. Galway is Bill’s Cheltenham. He hasn’t won a Galway Hurdle since 1984 when Tara Lee won with Joe Byrne, so I don’t think anyone would begrudge him a winner there. I nearly think the horse deserves to win a Galway Hurdle after everything that’s happened.”

Feature aim

Laafi is by no means a back number in this year’s €270,000 prize. Bookmakers have priced him as short as 8/1 and no bigger than 12/1 to scoop Thursday’s top prize, and Bannon is encouraged by the horse’s wellbeing at home - as well as an initial entry of just 24 horses.

“I’m not saying the Galway Hurdle isn’t a hot contest this year, but I did think there’d be a much bigger entry for the race and it’d be a lot hotter. I thought I was seeing things at 11.57am when they were about to close the other day!” he says.

“I think Laafi has got a lovely racing weight [of 11st 2lb] and Paddy is going to ride him, taking another 5lb off his back, which is a help. In the Swinton, the race seemed to fall away around him and he ended up in front earlier than ideal. To be fair to Philip [Byrnes], it wasn’t his doing - it was a case of nothing he could do with the runners around him. It was still a very good run and hopefully that won’t happen at Galway.

“I don’t know what it is about him at the minute; he seems to be getting stronger and improving, even with the age he is [six]. Normally they shouldn’t, but he is. When we bought him [for just 30,000gns out of William Haggas’ yard], some people told me that his wind mightn’t be good enough but I got him looked at - anything we like at the sales, we vet them. Look, not all these horses you buy will work out but he’s been a grand horse for us.”

The Durkan team, which has struck at Ballybrit in recent years with Favorite Moon and Eagle’s Way, expects to be doubly represented in Monday’s Connacht Hotel Qualified Riders Handicap, with recent Killarney scorer Eagle Fang among the top dozen in the betting at 12/1.

“A lot of people were saying for years that he wanted soft ground and he probably got away with it as a juvenile, but I think he’s found that tougher as he’s gotten older. We decided to keep him in training and he’s enjoying the flat,” Bannon explains.

“It was lovely to see him winning at Killarney the other night. It worked out nicely for Kaitlyn [Ryan] to ride her first winner on him and they did it well. That race was over a mile and six furlongs, and I think the extra couple of furlongs - combined with the hill at Galway - will suit him in the Connacht Hotel on Monday.

“Johnny Barry takes the ride. Off his mark [of 90], I think he definitely has a good chance of being very competitive.”

In the same €110,000 premier handicap, Ryan is currently jocked up to ride the stable’s top-weight Holy See, a winner at Gowran Park on his penultimate start before finishing down the field at the Curragh.

Talented candidate

“This horse is rotten with ability, but he is a bit of a monkey,” says Bannon.

“He’s got top-weight off his mark [of 98], but even with that, I think he could out-run his odds. He’s just one of those horses who you don’t know how they’ll fare, whether he’ll turn up. The ability is definitely there with him.”

On the rest of the week at Ballybrit, he adds: “It’s going to be a busy few days. We’ll run a nice horse in the bumper on Thursday called Rond Point. Johnny Barry will ride him. We bought this fella at Doncaster [£80,000] from John Murphy after he was just touched off in a point-to-point on his last start. He’s by Jack Hobbs and hopefully is a nice type for the future.

“There’s another horse I like called Golden Handshake, who we bought at the horse-in-training sales from William Haggas last October [for 30,000gns]. He’ll run in a maiden hurdle at Galway and seems a nice sort. We haven’t got him out yet this season; the ground didn’t suit at one point and he pulled a muscle that held him up at another stage.

“We’ve got 10 or 11 horses to travel down, and I think we have some good chances among them. Galway is Galway - anything can happen.”