Galway Report (Sunday)
Dermot Weld once again made history at the Galway Festival by saddling ten winners over the seven days marathon, with Gold Chaser proving the highlight of a final session double yesterday in the featured Eircell All @ Once Handicap.
The lightly-raced gelding, well-backed from 7/2 down to 9/4 joint favourite, was confidently ridden by Gordon Power, leading just inside the furlong pole to beat Jacks Estate by three and a half lengths.
'Gordon gave him a peach of a ride. He doesn't want extremes of ground, and has been a difficult horse to train due to chronic leg trouble', said the Rosewell House maestro.
Weld doubled up on the day, and brought his tally for the week to ten for the fourth time, when Kilcrea Shyan took the bumper in good style under Kevin O'Ryan.
Pat Hughes has enjoyed his best ever week at Ballybrit, and the Bagenalstown handler saddled his sixth winner of the Festival when Rapid Deployment justified favouritism in division one of the High Speed Data Handicap Hurdle.
Charlie Swan, the leading jumps rider of the meeting with four wins, gave the dual purpose four-year-old a strong drive in the straight to hold That's the Story by a neck. 'He would have run in the GPT but went lame last Saturday', said Hughes, who added: 'He would prefer better ground, and will mix it between the Flat and hurdles'.
Local trainer Val O'Brien saddled his third winner of the week when U Jump I Jump, the second leg of a double on the afternoon for jockey Conor O'Dwyer, readily landed division two of the handicap hurdle. 'He missed three weeks work after being badly cut when winning at Roscommon in June, and I thought he might need the run', said O'Brien.
Jack Duggan received a rousing reception from his Kerry based owners, the Wild Colonial Boys Syndicate, after drawing clear from the last to beat Catch The Dragon by seven lengths in the Eircell Info Services Maiden Hurdle. 'He has suffered alot of problems including a cracked bone in his knee, and I would imagine he will head for the Festivals at Tralee and Listowel', said trainer Edward O'Grady afterwards.
The Tote aggregate for the seven days was #5,378,146, compared with #4,766,869 for last year, while the total attendance over the week was in excess of 190,000.
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