Paul Townend: Three good rides at Galway Festival Day 1 & 2

The Betway Ambassador previews his rides on Day 1 and 2 of the Galway Festival, kicking off with Witches Familiar in the first race on Monday.

The Galway Festival is great craic every year, and as jockeys, we always look forward to the week. Admittedly, it can be quite a frustrating track to ride because you need an awful lot of luck and you need things to go your way if you’re going to come home in front. It’s quite unique, and you’re turning all the time, so you want to get a good prominent position without going too fast, and the starts are pretty crucial, but it can be a challenge because often there are a few of you with the same idea.

You have to get your position, but then have enough pace to hold it, and then you also can’t be kicking for home too early because there’s still a long way to go when you come out of that dip. There are a lot of variables to think about when you’re riding Galway, and I’m sure plenty of the lads in the weighing room can think back to races there that they’d like to have another go in.

It’s not like the other big festivals for us where we’re flat out all day, and you’ll often only have a couple of rides early in the week, so it’s nice to be able to enjoy it and concentrate on the rides you do have. I kick off with a good ride on Day one, then a few decent chances on the Tuesday, so fingers crossed we can get on the board early and take a little bit of the pressure off.

Day 1

A quiet start to the week for me with just the one ride on the opening day, but Witches Familiar 13/8 goes there with a really solid chance in that Novice Hurdle (17:10). I thought she was very impressive when winning at Ballinrobe back in May, and after showing a bit of form on the flat in France last year, she took to jumping really well on her first start for us. Her work at home since has been very good, so although she might find things a bit tougher in what looks a much stronger race, I’d be hoping there’s plenty more to come from her with that experience under her belt.

Paddy Twomey’s horse Arouet is rated 101 on the flat, so he’d be a big danger, and Carmel’s Phoenix looked pretty good at Kilbeggan when winning her first start over hurdles last month, so there looks to be a bit of depth to the race. Witches Familiar is a filly we really like though, and she’s from the family of Big Bucks, so the Galway hill should be no problem to her, and I’d be hopeful she can get the week off to the best possible start for us.

Day 2

It’s a good race to kick Day 2 off with this Listed Novice Hurdle (16:40), and I’m looking forward to seeing how Magico / gets on in this higher grade. He made a winning start for us at Killarney back in May, but even on that performance, he’ll have to jump much better in a race of this quality because his jumping got a little bit sticky at times there. He was then really disappointing at Punchestown last time because even though he started well, his jumping just completely fell apart after a few flights, and he’s better than where he finished that day. But he’ll have to do things much more professionally to be in the mix in a race of this quality.

Gomez Addams and Lizzie Twig look to set the standard, but you could give plenty of these a chance, so it looks a hot race, and Magico just won’t be able to get away with those errors in this, so hopefully he’s a bit more streetwise at his obstacles this time.

I’m then looking forward to riding My Great Mate / on his return to action in the Beginners Chase (17:10), and the majority of his best form has been here at Galway, so it’s a track he certainly seems to have a liking for. He was a good second to King Of Kingsfield in this race last year, and a reproduction of that effort would give him a chance, but he just couldn’t back that up here when finishing behind Rocky’s Diamond back in September, so there’s a possibility that his first run is the time to catch him.

It’s an ultra-competitive race, and Bowensonfire looks to set the standard for Gordon Elliott, but Love Me Tender and Frankie John both have some good form over hurdles to their name, so it will be interesting to see how they take to chasing. I’m just hoping the experience my lad has might be enough to see him go close, but I must admit it’s a tough race to call.

Visit Betway’s horse racing betting page.