Galway Sunday Tips: Mark Milligan fancies three on the final day

Mark Milligan
30 July 2022
4:00 min read

Mark Milligan fancies three at Galway

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Mark Milligan concludes his Galway Summer Festival previews with three selections on the final day at the Ballybrit venue...

"Gordon Elliott’s charge took this race in 2021 having run dismally in the Galway Plate a few days beforehand, but he comes into this year’s renewal on the back of a much better run in that contest, which surely bodes well for a follow up"

The marathon that is the Galway Summer Festival finally draws to a close on Sunday with a typically competitive eight-race card.

The first race of interest is the Kenny Galway Handicap Hurdle at 14:30, which isn't quite as competitive as it seems at first glance.

Although it's attracted a field of twenty (along with reserves), plenty of them are seemingly out of form and I'm happy to side with one who's proven his well-being as recently as a month ago.

Gavin Cromwell's Perceval Legallois has been holding his form well throughout the spring/early summer and made amends for an unlucky unseat at Wexford in June when storming home at the same track in a maiden hurdle last time.

He looks a useful stayer in the making and as a 5-y-o still has plenty of time on his hands to develop into a decent handicap hurdler.

His opening mark of 119 looks more than fair when you consider how easily he won last time and though the waters are obviously deeper here, he's much lower mileage than the majority of his rivals in this contest.

Loudest Whisper is a previous course winner who finished a good third in a handicap at Bellewstown last time and she may emerge as the biggest threat.

Others to consider include Summer Tide and Kells Priory, though whether they're open to quite the same progression as Perceval Legalllois is debatable.

No. 2

Perceval Legallois (Fr)

Trainer: Gavin Patrick Cromwell, Ireland
Jockey: M. P. Walsh
Age: 5
Weight: 11st 8lbs
OR: 119

Battleoverdoyen fancied for repeat win

Politesse comes into the Eileen Kelly Memorial Chase (15:05) in top form having run out a comfortable winner of a handicap chase off a lenient mark of 128 last time.

She's now rated 136 but gets only 7lb from last year's winner of this contest Battleoverdoyen and she's going to have to take another step forward if she's to bridge the gap to that rival.

Gordon Elliott's charge took this race in 2021 having run dismally in the Galway Plate a few days beforehand, but he comes into this year's renewal on the back of a much better run in that contest, which surely bodes well for a follow up.

It's probably questionable whether Battleoverdoyen is still worth an official rating of 149, though even if he's a few pounds below that level these days, he should still be more than competitive here.

I was encouraged by that Plate run just a couple of day ago, for all that he didn't land a serious blow on the principals, and I suspect this smaller-field conditions contest is much more his bag these days.

The aforementioned Politesse is in good enough form to give him a bit of a race, while the likes of Waitnsee and Doctor Duffy also enter the equation on their best form, though I'm happy to side with Battleoverdoyen to repeat last year's success.

No. 1

Battleoverdoyen (Ire)

Trainer: Gordon Elliott, Ireland
Jockey: Davy Russell
Age: 9
Weight: 11st 3lbs
OR: -

Elmos Fire worth another chance

Back on the flat, the Ireland West Airport Knock Handicap (17:10) sees a field of seventeen 3-y-os lining up and I'm prepared to give another chance to Elmos Fire, who created such a good impression on his penultimate start.

Andrew Kiniron's son of New Bay built on a good run at Killarney in May when convincingly taking a Listowel maiden from Hotrocket on his next outing.

Based on that run, he was sent off joint favourite on handicap debut at Roscommon last time, where he finished well held after racing prominently.

He'd looked on a fair mark, so I'm not really sure what went wrong there, perhaps a combination of softer ground while stepping up a couple of furlongs in trip was his undoing.