It’s a genuine surprise to me that you can still back VALSEUR LIDO to win the Galway Plate at a whopping 28/1 this morning. Especially when now we know Rachael Blackmore has been booked, the ground looks like it will be at least yielding, at best good, and given the current favourite for the race Patricks Park, isn’t even guaranteed to get into the race, as he is first reserve.

Readers of this week’s Monday Outlook column will have read the case put forward and the same criteria remains. Henry de Bromhead’s Grade 1-winning chaser is running here off a mark of 153. His record appearing after 100+ day gap is 11215 and when you gather his form figures achieved on ground described as good to yielding or better you get: 213221. That sequence takes on a good deal more significance when you consider all but one of those figures was achieved in a Grade 1.

It might be that he is on the downgrade but that seems less likely than not given he is just a nine-year-old. His best run of last season came on his seasonal debut when finishing a 14-length fifth in the Leopardstown Christmas Chase, reinforcing the belief that he can run very well when fresh. And, even a bare replication of that form would see him go close.

Of course there are plenty of dangers. The aforementioned Patricks Park will be a force if he gets to run as he has a really progressive profile. Koshari has form with some of the best novices from last season but it’s not ideal coming into this off a fall while Neverushacon has been bang in form for Jessica Harrington over hurdles and fences. It’s interesting that Paul Townend is riding Haymount, who was pulled up in this last season after making a bad mistake. He hasn’t been seen since but that is of little worry when you’re dealing with a Willie Mullins-trained runner in a race like this. He has some nice form previous to that, including a good seventh in Our Duke’s Irish Grand National.

STAR

All the money this morning has come for Willie Mullins’s Bronagh’s Belle in the concluding extended two-mile handicap and she does look a short price now. She’s coming up in trip, she is drawn 18 of 18 and she has a 16lb rise to contend with. Obviously she could progress past that as she is lightly raced but at 5/2, I’d be happy to let her run and take a bigger price about Noel Meade’s SHE’S A STAR.

She ran an excellent race on her previous start chasing home a potentially classy stayer in Aidan O’Brien’s Cliffs Of Dooneen at the Curragh. That was her first run after a break and she should be firing on all cylinders today. She hasn’t fared much better than the favourite with the draw, in 16, but she has won over hurdles at Galway and handles any ground.

There is €30,000 up for grabs in the three-year-old only extended mile handicap (8:00) and El Greco looks the one to beat. Aidan O’Brien’s runner comes in off the back of two wins and could be well treated off a mark of 91. He will be a tough nut to crack but BECKWITH PLACE, available to back at twice the price, is an interesting contender to take him on. The Tracey Collins-trained colt did well to win on his second start and seasonal debut beating subsequent winner Mayaadeen and in turn pulling seven lengths clear of another subsequent winner Charcor at Tipperary. That win came on soft ground but if the ground dried out it wouldn’t pose any problem - his pedigree suggest he’ll improve for it. He could be well treated off a mark of 80 and he has a lot more scope to progress than many of his rivals on this just his third ever run.

TRICKY

The rest of the card is tricky, as is every day at Galway. Debuchet is a warm order in the first but he’s had a few goes already and is returning off a break. Denis Hogan, who has already had a winner this week, suggested Macgiloney was his best chance in the Galway special Talking Trainer column in Saturday’s paper so it would be no surprise if he ran well.

Aydoun got Dermot Weld off the mark at last season’s festival and the Rosewell House trainer will hope the five-year-old can do the same for him this evening. He hasn’t been seen over hurdles since that win but he warmed up for this with a good run to be second in a Curragh handicap.

In the fiercely competitive mares handicap hurdle at 6:10 it’s interesting that Davy Russell has kept the faith in Stephen Ryan’s Red Pearl whom he rode to finish second in a mares’ maiden hurdle at Punchestown. She doesn’t have many miles on the clock and could go well off a mark of 109 while Diamond Hill could be the one to beat in the 18:45 mile-and-a-half maiden. The Willie Mullins-trained mare represents the exact same winning connections of the race last year and is a promising sort, being a half sister to Blackstairmountain and Allure Of Illusion.

Selections:

7:20, Valseur Lido, 1pt win, 28/1

8:00, Beckwith Star, 1pt win, 7/1

8:30, She’s A Star, 1pt win, 7/1