Galway day two preview Shield has to give away weight to all six rivals in the Topaz Novice Hurdle at the Galway Festival today. He will be a short price to do so, though, after his striking victory at Killarney on July 17, and Robbie Power is back on board for the Aidan O'Brien team. Dermot Weld has claimed the Topaz EBF Fillies Maiden five times since 2006, with O'Brien the only other trainer to have won the race in that period. Weld runs unraced grey filly Chinese Light, while O'Brien is triple-handed with Ask Me Nicely, Cocoon and Together Forever. Joseph O'Brien is on the latter. Hidden Universe is another expected to go well for the Weld juggernaut in the Caulfieldindustrial.com Handicap over two miles. He has 18 rivals to overcome, though, including Tony Martin's Cassells Rock, who steps up in trip and has to be watched in the betting market. Footprint and Knights Templar fought out the spoils in the seven-furlong Caulfield Industrial Athlone Handicap last year, and both are back to do battle again. Sretaw and Oor Jock have been running consistently well and will have their supporters too. Ado McGuinness said of Oor Jock: "If you watch his run at the Curragh he was unlucky and he was just chinned in Leopardstown so he should be coming in here with four wins. "He used to be rated a lot higher than 76. The question is whether he will climb the hill, but nothing ventured nothing gained." The concluding seven-furlong maiden looks to be between Antique Platinum, Rightway and Henson. The Weld-trained Antique Platinum was fourth on debut in Naas and a visor is fitted for the first time. Rightway and Henson have plenty of placed form in the book to give credence to their chances.
