The fourth evening of action from the Galway Races on Thursday is another quality card and is highlighted by the Galway Hurdle.
Day four of the Galway Festival takes place on Thursday evening with an eight-race card headlined by the Grade 3 Guinness Galway Hurdle at 16:30.
We have picked out a trio of selections to follow on Thursday evening and we expect all three of them to be right in the mix.
Selections
14:10 Galway – Intellotto @ SP
INTELLOTTO has had a varied career, initially being tried on the flat before he was switched to hurdling in the winter of 2023.
Jumping looked very much his forte and connections thought very highly of him as he was run in some of the big juvenile hurdle races at Leopardstown and Aintree that season. He was unable to make a mark at the top level, but had some respectable results.
Many expected him to switch back to the flat this summer, however, he was tried in a Beginners Chase at Limerick in May and he looked very much at home.
Stepping up to two and a half miles for the first time, he jumped remarkably well when considering it was his first attempt over the larger obstacles and won a long way clear of his rivals. It was a good start to his chasing career and it looks as though there will be more to come.
This will be a greater test of his abilities, but he should be reasonably match-fit having had a 70-day break since his win at Limerick and he will have learned a lot from that win and goes into this with every chance.
16:30 Galway – Dysart Enos @ 14/1
Last season DYSART ENOS showed steady progress in handicaps after a sensational novice campaign.
A perfect three wins from three in Novice company, she made her handicap debut in November last year and suffered her first defeat over hurdles at Cheltenham, running well but weakening in the closing stages.
It was a similar story on her next outing at Ascot, before she made little impact on the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, but she seemed to turn a corner on her last hurdle race, the Scottish Champion Hurdle in April.
A change in tactics saw her race a bit more prominently than in her previous races and she showed that she has retained her class. She was only narrowly beaten into fourth after a gruelling race where the front four battled it out for the whole two miles.
She may want further in the future, but she has been kept fit with a run on the flat at the beginning of July and looks to be on a reasonable mark for this.
If the same tactics as were employed at Ayr are used again here, she has a good chance of getting her first handicap win.
17:05 Galway – Cinammon Roll @ SP
In his four career races under rules, CINAMMON ROLL has shown that he could be potentially useful.
He fluffed his lines on his racecourse debut in May, but since then he has been nothing short of impressive with a hat-trick of wins (one in a Bumper and two over hurdles) capped by his victory last time out at Perth two-and-a-half weeks ago.
He travelled strongly throughout, sitting just behind the leaders and then showed his class in the closing stages, jumping the second last perfectly to take the lead before pulling away from the field.
This will be a tougher test of his abilities, but one he looks more than capable of passing if he can reproduce his effort from last time.
