In Excelsis Deo will bid to become rare British winner of Galway Plate © Photo Healy Racing
In Excelsis Deo bids to become a rare British-trained winner of the Tote Galway Plate on Wednesday.
It is 16 years since Oslot claimed top honours for Paul Nicholls, while the only other horse to travel across the Irish Sea and plunder the Ballybrit showpiece in the last half-century was the Philip Hobbs-trained Amlah in 1998.
Harry Fry’s In Excelsis Deo will line up as a leading contender for the €270,000 contest, having been saved for the race since landing the Grade Two Silver Trophy at Cheltenham in April.
The six-year-old, who is fitted with cheek pieces for the first time, is one of four runners for owner JP McManus, along with Gavin Cromwell’s Punchestown Festival runner-up Perceval Legallois and the Willie Mullins-trained pair of Saint Roi and Janidil.
“Perceval Legallois ran well in Punchestown and this looked the obvious race to have a go at. Gavin is happy with him, it’s a very competitive race and you need a bit of luck, but he goes there in good form,” said McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry.
“In Excelsis Deo ran well in some of those good handicaps in Cheltenham last season, Harry is pleased with him. He won’t mind the ground and we’re hoping for a good run.
“Saint Roi ran a blinder in Punchestown, he missed a fence and just got nabbed on the line. He’s going there fresh and well and Willie is happy with him and Janidil – but of the two, Saint Roi looks the one with the current form.”
The powerhouse stables of Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Henry de Bromhead are all well represented, with Mister Policeman perhaps the pick of the champion trainer’s squad.
Zanahiyr and course and distance winner Ash Tree Meadow look Elliott’s two leading hopes, while Rachael Blackmore has sided with Lets Go Champ over the other De Bromhead runners – Amirite, Toss Again and Life In The Park.
Noel Meade, who won the 2014 Galway Plate with Road To Riches, has a couple of bullets to fire in the form of recent Mullingar Midlands National winner Idas Boy and Pinkerton, who beat Saint Roi by a short head at the Punchestown Festival in early May.
Meade said: “Idas Boy obviously went up a few pounds for winning in Kilbeggan, but still the top-weight (Ash Tree Meadow) stayed in to keep him down the weights and if he gets a good run round, he has to have an each-way chance.
“The other lad is the same. You couldn’t be sure he’d get the trip, but I’d be more worried about the ground than the trip actually.
“As long as there’s a good enough ease in the ground, he has a respectable chance.”
