1. Emmet’s smart recruitment

Hewick rightfully hit the headlines at this meeting last year, when belying his €800 purchase price to win the Galway Plate, but Emmet Mullins deserves plenty of credit for the recruitment of his big-handicap winner Teed Up.

The Connacht Hotel QR Handicap hero was sourced for just €3,500 out of Ken Condon’s yard, and has now earned almost €120,000 in prize money for his current connections (ahead of yesterday’s run in the €110,000 Guiness Premier Handicap and tomorrow’s in the €17,000 Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Hurdle).

Some of Mullins’ near misses at the meeting were also purchased pretty astutely. Malbay Madness, who failed by a short-head on Wednesday, wasn’t expensive at 30,000gns; Aurora Princess, beaten a head in the mares’ handicap hurdle, cost €20,000; and well-touted bumper runner-up Arctic Gale is certainly worth more now than his €20,000 purchase price.

2. Browne McMonagle earns praise

Dylan Browne McMonagle really excelled on day one when partnering Mythology to success in the two-year-old maiden. In a messy race, the two-time champion apprentice made his own luck by getting into the clear at the top of the straight and rode like an old pro in using his mount’s experience against newcomer Sea The Polaris. He followed up with a 155/1 double on Thursday.

It has been the view of many seasoned observers that we are dealing with one of the brightest prospects to hit the Irish flat scene in many years when it comes to the Donegal native. He looks the complete package, and Ruby Walsh summed that point up on RTÉ’s Monday coverage.

“I think Fran Berry and I are in agreement here,” Walsh noted. “This guy is the future.” Enough said.

3. Demand for Galway runners

If ever there were two races to sum up just how high the demand is for owners and trainers to have runners at the Galway Festival, take a look at Monday’s Easyfix Handicap Hurdle and Tuesday’s Caulfield Industrial Handicap.

The former is restricted to hurdlers rated 109 or less, but the bottom weight was rated 105 – meaning just a 4lb swing between the highest and lowest-rated runners in the declared 20-runner field.

In comparison, a race with the exact same rating band at Limerick just four days earlier failed to attract a full field, with a horse rated as low as 81 getting a run. Likewise, Tuesday’s flat contest was restricted to horses rated 70 or less, but only 3lb separated top and bottom, with some intended runners rated 67 failing to get in.

4. Layers playing it safe with Power

Mystical Power was much too good for his rivals when making a winning hurdles debut in the opening contest of the week and is clearly smart. However, seeing several bookmakers quote him at as short as 12/1 for the 2024 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is a sign of the depressingly protective stance taken by layers when it comes to ante-post markets. There looks to be no value in that price at this stage of proceedings.

Lest anyone forget, the start of this week marked a whole 225 days before the Cheltenham Festival curtain raiser. Any number of smart novices will appear between now and then, and gambling that a whole seven and a half months will go smoothly for any horse comes with some level of risk.

Perhaps Mystical Power will indeed prove to be the next big thing, but readily seeing off the winner of a low-key Tramore maiden hurdle here means he requires a fair deal of improvement to triumph in the Supreme.

5. Full sectionals needed

The lack of comprehensive sectional times in Irish racing since first promised for 2017 has been an embarrassing episode for the industry.

We are promised that there is light at the end of the tunnel for a nationwide rollout next January, and data was available for the Galway Festival, which is welcome when it comes to dissecting the meeting.

Ruby Walsh, the finest race reader on any broadcast outlet, often refers to sectional timing as part of his analysis, and this week we even heard Willie Mullins place emphasis on the specific mid-race splits behind Arctic Fly’s surprise listed win on Tuesday.

“I think the first furlongs were 13 and 12 seconds, and then Sean O’Keeffe just slowed it down to 14 and 15 seconds in front,” said Mullins. “He was slowing down the whole thing and everyone sat in behind him. He kept enough in reserve to kick.”

If the most decorated National Hunt rider of all time values sectionals, and the Cheltenham Festival’s most successful trainer of all time is also factoring them into his analysis, this is clearly information we can all benefit from. The technology’s full rollout can’t come soon enough.

6. Wide draw no issue in BMW Mile

So much for wide draws seemingly being a stumbling block to success in Ballybrit’s biggest flat prizes.

Of course, a low starting position is generally a big positive - especially over seven furlongs with prominent runners- but a strong gallop in the Colm Quinn BMW Mile Handicap has meant that those drawn further out can play a serious role when coming with an unimpeded run. Coeur D’Or’s win this week from stall 15 - beating No More Porter (drawn 20), Dunum (16) and Casanova (13) - continued the trend of double-digit winners in the race, following on from Magic Chegaga (19), Sirjack Thomas (17), Saltonstall (12 and 14) and Riven Light (18 and 10).

7. Plate start disaster for Games

They say you can’t win a race at the start but you certainly can lose one, and the beginning of this year’s Galway Plate shaped the entire make-up of the race.

Ash Tree Meadow and Authorized Art were basically the first two to rise at the opening fence and filled those positions crossing the line, while fifth-placed Visionarian sat in sixth after the first obstacle.

Just as crucially, though, the repeated false start shenanigans practically ended all hopes for some runners, such as Upping The Anti. Big-race fancy Hollow Games, who excelled from the front on his only other chasing win, also had the door shut in his face from both sides as the tapes went up. It was a pretty remarkable effort from him to finish third.

On a separate point, history has shown that the first two finishers in the Plate could have been found in a slightly unusual spot last October. Authorized Art got the better of Ash Tree Meadow in last year’s Grade 3 Like A Butterfly Novice Chase at Tipperary when first and second. The tables were turned in no uncertain terms at Galway this week.

8. Fahey headgear angle clicks again

As was highlighted in this column last month, trainer Peter Fahey has one of the finest strike rates around when fitting a new set of headgear on his runners. His 18/1 mares’ handicap hurdle winner A Law Of Her Own had been placed several times but arrived with just one win to her name prior to digging deep for a breakthrough win over hurdles here. The application of a visor could well have been the difference. He is now three from four when trying a first-time visor in Ireland since 2018.

9. ‘Good things’ can get beaten

A result that summed up just how unpredictable the Galway Festival can be arrived in Wednesday’s Q.R. maiden.

In a massive upset, Up And Under - who had finished second to White Birch and Sprewell in Derby trials at Leopardstown - was unable to get the better of Kilbeggan bumper winner Minella Mate, sent off at 66/1.

The winner was a well-held fifth on his previous start in a Roscommon maiden hurdle, whereas Up And Under (SP 4/9 favourite) came fifth in the Irish Derby prior to Galway. Make sense of that.

Then again, Heartbreak City did only manage third in a handicap at the 2015 Galway Festival off a mark of 79 - a year before he came second in the Melbourne Cup when running to a Timeform rating of 123. It can happen at Ballybrit.

10. Hats off to Wyer and team

Managing the various tracks at Galway for a seven-day meeting that often arrives with challenging weather is surely one of the toughest jobs for any clerk of the course in racing, but the general consensus seemed to be that Lorcan Wyer and his team got things right across the opening days of the festival. Going updates from the IHRB and Galway have been frequent, and switching the order of races to ensure the best possible ground for the Plate on Wednesday looked a proactive, common-sense move. Here’s hoping the final two days of the meeting go off without a hitch. Few will deserve to put their feet up like Wyer and his team come tomorrow night.