The preliminary entries for the Tote Galway Plate and the Guinness Galway Hurdle promise renewals that will be right up to scratch in terms of quality and competitiveness.
The two most valuable and time-honoured events of the Galway Races Summer Festival, both Grade 3 handicaps worth €270,000 each, will take place on Wednesday, July 29 and Thursday, July 30 respectively.
Gordon Elliott plundered both these coveted prizes last year with subsequent Grade 1 winner Western Fold in the Plate and the Hurdle going the way of Ndaawi after a Stewards’ Enquiry.
The Cullentra trainer has lifted the Plate five times in the past decade and he has six of the total number of 32 initial entries. Highest-rated of that group is Three Card Brag but perhaps the one that catches the eye most is Nowwhatdoyouthink.
Formerly owned and trained by Ray Hackett in Tipperary, this horse was Grade 1 placed at Punchestown in the spring and a Grade 3 winner at Cork on his most recent two starts. He is set to carry the colours of Leamington Racing for his new team.
Elliott’s number of entries for the Plate is exceeded by his great rival Willie Mullins who has pitched in eight potential starters with Funiculi Funicula just one with notably strong credentials. He was Grade 1 placed over hurdles and he added a Listed novice chase at the Punchestown Festival.
Noel Meade’s fantastic veteran Jesse Evans is in line to return to Ballybrit for the fifth year running. The ten-year-old ran second in the Plate last year and filled the same spot in the Hurdle in 2022 and 2023.
Will The Wise brings robust form for Gavin Cromwell as the winner of the Topham Chase at Aintree in the spring, following his runner-up position at the Cheltenham Festival just weeks earlier. He also has winning form at Galway.
Ol Man Dingle, trained in Kilkenny by Eoin Griffin, has had this race on his agenda since winning the Mongey Communications Galway Plate Trial when carrying top weight at Kilbeggan in June.
Others to note are Solness, a multiple Grade 1 winning chaser for Joseph O’Brien who also has an entry in the Hurdle. Yorkshire-based trainer Patrick Neville has his stable star The Real Whacker in the reckoning also.
Successful in his most recent two starts, Reverend Hubert might represent Limerick trainer Charles Byrnes despite being unraced over fences since this meeting in 2024.
Willie Mullins has exerted a similar level of dominance in the Guinness Galway Hurdle to Elliott in the Tote Galway Plate with five wins since 2016.
The perennial champion trainer has six runners engaged at the preliminary stage, mostly young and unexposed types such as Roc Dino and Too Bossy For Us.
Elliott also has six primed at this stage, including Ndaawi the 2025 champion and El Cairos, a smart novice last season.
Ndaawi, still only six, has won his last two outings and has an excellent record in the race having also placed second in 2024.
Helvic Dream, first past the post but demoted to second after an enquiry in this race last year, is another from the Noel Meade team seeking a change of luck at the fixture.
Also with unfinished business here is Puturhandstogether. He started the 4-1 favourite for Joseph O’Brien and JP McManus in this contest 12 months ago on the back of Cheltenham Festival success over hurdles. He won the Irish Cesarewitch last year.
There are 24 entries for the Hurdle at the initial stage. Laafi, trained by Bill Durkan in Dublin, merits respect and is another due better fortune. He was disqualified from victory at Aintree and was subsequently denied by a neck in the Grade 3 Swinton Handicap Hurdle at Haydock in May.
Trainer Gerry Keane’s Ragmans Corner is not without a chance either. He placed on the Flat and over hurdles here a year ago and won his most recent start over timber at Killarney.
Trainer Tony Martin has won this famous event on three occasions since 2014 and will rely on his recent Bellewstown scorer Putapoundinthejar.
Meanwhile, 20 years on from his third success in the race, trainer Paul Nolan appears intent on running Sageborough, winner of two his five career starts, both at Wexford.
Click here for the link to entries to the Tote Galway Plate.
Click here for the link to entries to the Guinness Galway Hurdle.
