SUMMER, September or October. It makes no difference to Dermot Weld. Galway is Galway and there’s a job to be done.
Flat races, with one exception, have disappeared from this October meeting but the Curragh trainer has a pair lined up on Sunday in two of the afternoon’s most prestigious races. He runs his recent Tipperary chase winner Waaheb in the €18,500 novice chase and although the runner-up that day, Georges Conn, did the form no good when failing as an odds-on chance at Thurles last Thursday, it was hardly the fault of Waaheb.
He has just four opponents to deal with and Lord Scoundrel is the one he has to fear most. This Gigginstown-owned, Gordon Elliott-trained six-year-old managed to achieve a hurdle rating of 128 despite only having an initial maiden victory in that sphere. He won first time over fences at Limerick this month, beating The Winkler.
Waaheb is a bit of an enigmatic chaser but his peak hurdle rating of 146 puts him on a different page. He had a confidence-booster here at Galway in July when third to Shantou Flyer after an earlier unseating at the meeting. With a clear round he should prove too good for Lord Scoundrel. The latter’s rider, Bryan Cooper, rides Noel Meade’s Disko in the opening maiden hurdle, obviously in preference to the other Gigginstown runner, Eoin Griffin’s Archive.
Disko won on his Punchestown debut and went on to run second to Bellshill in the Championship Bumper in April. He looks an above-average sort and is difficult to oppose.
Cork bumper winner Mall Dini is well regarded, though, and the booking of Ruby Walsh for Elliott’s Jetstream Jack is interesting.
Weld’s second runner is Good Tradition in the one-mile-six-furlong amateur Flat race. This one has a 104 rating, was well stuffed in the Irish St Leger behind Order Of St George, but had finished closer to him in an earlier Curragh race. At the summer meeting here he was second to Dark Crusader, beaten a length-and-a-quarter. Has a deal in hand of most of these and Weld uses Finny Maguire’s 5lb allowance.
Jennies Jewel looks to be the only one capable of giving him a race. The second maiden hurdle, for six-year-olds-and-upwards, is a very modest contest. Dramatic Event is narrowly preferred to Thinkitplanitdoit, with Deputy Marshall possibly third-best.
I can’t raise any enthusiasm about either of the two handicaps. In the chase, Abarta, Bendale Blue and Whisky Galore all have place prospects. In the hurdle, a 0-140 contest with a top weight rated 128, affords a chance to Copy That, last weekend’s Cork runner-up Seeyouallincoppers and last year’s winner Smiler, now rated 7lb higher.
