GALWAY FESTIVAL: GALWAY 2009 concludes tomorrow with Maundy Money in line for some festival consolation in the €90,000 feature but breeding purists will also be looking south to Cork where a rather special pedigree will be on view.
Johnny Murtagh is on duty at Mallow in order to team up with the newcomer Benvenuto in the six-furlong maiden and this Aidan O’Brien-trained colt has a lot to live up to.
He is a full-brother to last year’s dual-Guineas hero Henrythenavigator, who also managed to squeeze in further Group One victories in the St James’s Palace Stakes and the Sussex before retiring to stud.
The odds on a genetic repeat of such exploits are long but this doesn’t look an onerous task for Benvenuto in terms of opposition. Instead ground conditions could be important just as they were for his brother.
Maundy Money bounced right back to form at Ballybrit on Tuesday night when finishing a two-length runner-up to Rock And Roll Kid in the Galway Mile and the drop back to seven furlongs for tomorrow’s Connacht Tribune Centenary Handicap shouldn’t be a problem.
Dermot Weld runs Firey Red in this and she comes here in winning form but faces a big task against older horses here.
Weld gives the former Group Three winner Bobs Pride a first start over fences in the opening Beginners Chase and the booking of Ruby Walsh indicates the horse who ran third to Rock And Roll Kid on Tuesday has been pleasing in his schooling at home.
Noble Galileo started a 4 to 6 favourite to break her duck at Leopardstown last month but faded to third behind Boulay after running too freely in the early stages.
If she settles better tomorrow then the Oxx filly can land the mile and a half maiden.
Steve Capall emerged best in a thrilling finish with The Rebel Returns at Galway on Wednesday and Noel Meade’s dour stayer should thrive over the three miles of the handicap hurdle.
