THE meeting kicked off with a game front-running effort from owner-trainer Michael O’Callaghan’s I Am Magic in the Claregalwayhotel.ie Irish EBF (C&G) Maiden over seven furlongs. This Magician colt had the benefit of two previous runs and he made the most of that previous experience by breaking alertly to show in front from the outset and Leigh Roche was able to control the race at all stages.
I Am Magic (15/2) took several lengths out of his hard-pressed rivals on the approach to the straight and, while he needed the line late on, he got home by a head from Anchorage with the newcomer Duke De Sessa running a pleasing race to finish a further head back in third. Interestingly, there was just a head between the winner and the second when they filled the minor positions in a maiden at Naas last month.
“I sent Leigh a video on Saturday of Now Or Never winning her maiden here and I asked him what he thought of those tactics and he said before he opened it he was hoping that we’d make the running with this horse,” remarked O’Callaghan. “I think he can improve again and he will step up to stakes company and he just getting lonely in front there so I don’t think a mile will be any problem.”
Ryan excels
The 2020 Galway Festival was one in which Gavin Ryan excelled and last year’s champion apprentice wasted no time getting back amongst the winners this time as the Ciaran Murphy-trained Black Cat Bobby landed the Claytonhotelgalway.ie Handicap.
The 14/1 winner overcame a troublesome stall 16 draw to race close to the pace and in a frantic finish Black Cat Bobby proved strongest as he scrambled home by a neck while there was less than a length covering the first five home.
“The ease in the ground was a big help and, while the draw was a huge concern, Gavin was brilliant on him. He’s a horse we’ve always thought plenty of and the ground and the stiff finish brought out the best in him. He might be back here at the weekend,” declared Murphy, whose charge carries the colours of Dot Love.
THE meeting got off to a fine start for Jessica Harrington and Shane Foley as they secured a double which was completed by an ultra-game Citronnade in the Eventus Handicap.
A Killarney maiden success two weeks previously saw the Kirsten Rausing-owned daughter of Lemon Drop Kid handed a mark of 85 for her handicap debut in this often well contested mile-and-a-half event and she proved more than equal to the task.
The 7/1 shot set off in front and turned back one rival after another. The strongest challenge of all came from the top-weight Port Sunlight, but hard as that one tried she could find no way past Citronnade who got home by three-quarters of a length.
“She’s a grand filly. She wears her heart on her sleeve and I thought she’d like the track and when the rain came it was all the better. She stays very well,” remarked Foley.
Earlier, Jessica Harrington’s Maud Gonne Spirit picked an opportune time to return to form as she pounced late in the Galwaybayhotel.com & Galmont.com Handicap.
A dual winner on soft ground last term, the four-year-old had struggled for form in three of her four runs this term but a return to an easy surface made all the difference to the Olivia Hoare-owned daughter of Intello.
After looking on from the rear of the midfield the 18/1 shot came with a relentless charge over the last couple of furlongs to defeat Turbine by half a length.
“She’s been frustrating us up to now but they went hard up front and the rain came. I got a dream run through the race and that’s what she has been showing us in her work,” commented Foley.
Ten makes it three wins
FOR the third time in four years, Zero Ten (9/4) came good at the summer festival as Emmet Mullins produced the Annette Mee-owned gelding in great shape for his first run since November in the Monami Construction (Q.R.) Maiden.
Previously a winner of a bumper, a maiden hurdle and a chase at Galway, the sparingly campaigned eight-year-old was making it seven wins from just 13 starts and he did so in style. The Shantou gelding tanked through the race for Patrick Mullins and brushed aside Ciel D’Afrique in the straight for a commanding three-and-a-quarter-length triumph.
“We’ve had a few issues with him and it’s been an uphill battle to get him here this year but the engine is there. If we can mind him he’ll reward us,” declared Mullins.
The steady improver Merroir made it three wins from her last five starts in the Easyfix Handicap over a mile and a half to continue Joseph O’Brien’s brilliant form.
Through the first 26 days of July, O’Brien was making it a staggering 24 winners with this Max Morris-owned four-year-old who overcame joint top-weight under Dylan Browne McMonagle. The 6/1 chance was always to the fore and struck for home off the last bend to defeat the 40/1 chance Nibiru by two and a half lengths.
“The rain came in time for her as she does love an ease in the ground.
“She’s not the biggest and had plenty of weight there but she’s very tough,” remarked Brendan Powell.