AT first glance you wouldn’t be rushing to back a three-year-old in the Colm Quinn BMW Mile, the feature race for day two of Galway. There has been no three-year-old winner in the race since Palace Star led home Amourallis in a classic generation one-two in 2004.

However as with all trends you need context and not nearly enough three-year-olds have taken their chance in the race to make this stat significant. For instance only seven three-year-olds have ran in the last five renewals.

There could well be a three-year-old winner today because there are five set to line up and the one that may have been overlooked is Michael O’Callaghan’s filly RIONACH.

She made a successful handicap debut just two weeks ago at Killarney and she holds the most progressive-looking profile in the field as a three-year-old with just six runs coming into this race off the back of two wins.

The aforementioned Killarney win was thoroughly impressive, in the way that she picked up to put four and a half lengths between her nearest pursuers - the in-form Aussie Valentine and Joseph O’Brien’s recent maiden winner Arthurian Flame. She went up 12lbs for that effort but the assessment was warranted and she could easily go by her current mark of 92, especially when you consider her trainer has her in the Group 3 fillies race later in the week, which is one of three current Group 3 entries she has.

Quick ground is probably important for her so hopefully the rain-softened surface drys out, as it did yesterday. After that she’ll need a bit of luck from stall 12 but her jockey Gary Halpin rides Galway well and guided Vastonea to win this from stall 10 in 2014.

The second bet of the day comes in the 8:10 Caulfield Industrial Handicap where KEEP BELIEVING rates a solid proposition. Brian Nolan’s four-year-old got up to a mark of 80 last year but after a couple of mediocre efforts earlier in the season he slipped back down the ratings. However he returned to form when finishing second to Alan’s Pride in a 30-runner Curragh handicap and backed that up with a close second on his most recent start at Sligo.

He looks cherry ripe now to strike off a mark of 69 and he has good Galway form having finished third in an 18-runner handicap at the course last September.

Beau Satchel is a three-time winner at Galway

BEAU SATCHEL will have plenty of supporters in the last race, the caulfieldindustrial.com Handicap, a race he has won twice before. His previous wins came off marks of 74 and 75 and this evening he runs off 68. He warmed up for this with a win at Dundalk, he is drawn okay in 10 and the excellent Ronan Whelan takes the ride. Everything looks in place for a big run from the three-time Galway winner.

If there is to be a potential star on this card it will probably be Hermosa, a sister to Hydrangea who caught every eye watching her when unlucky in her run to finish fourth in a Curragh maiden. That said, Jessica Harrington’s PLEASURABLE finished seventh in the same maiden and looked at least as unlucky in her run. She is well bred herself, a daughter of Camelot and a half sister to German Group 2 winner Red Cardinal, and a price of 9/2 might just underestimate her chance of reversing form with the O’Brien filly.

The rest of the card is tricky. Willie Mullins holds the key to the first race again with Exchange Rate and Pakora at the head of the market but there has been plenty of money for both Canardier and Holding Pattern against the top two this morning and with little form on offer, it’s difficult to get a read on the race.

The second race is a beginners chase that wouldn’t be out of place if it took place in November. The favourite is Chateau Conti, who is interesting as he has been moved from Willie Mullins yard to Joseph O’Brien. Another intriguing runner is the J.P. McManus-owned Winter Escape, once highly touted when trained by Alan King and now making his debut for Curragh trainer Aidan Howard. Again it’s hard to know how these prospective chasers will perform so the race is probably best watched.

Finally the 7:05 Caulfield Industrial Irish EBF Maiden is likely to be fought out between Ger Lyons’s Would Be King and Fozzy Stack’s Iiex Excelsa, two highly-rated maidens who are both drawn well.

Selections:

6:25, Pleasurable, 9/2, 1pt win

7:40, Rionach, 14/1, 1pt win

8:10, Keep Believing, 6/1, 1pt win

8:40, Beau Satchel, 4/1, 1pt win