Jane Mangan’s William Hill blog: Galway Festival Day Five

William Hill ambassador previews Day Five from the Galway Festival.

Day Five of the Galway Festival kicks off with a two-mile handicap hurdle (5.00pm), for which I like Andrew Slattery and Aidan Ryan teaming up with Dark Note. He won on the Flat at Tramore and then won over hurdles at Sligo, but the piece of form really catching my eye is his run at the Galway Festival last year behind Mystical Power as a novice hurdler. I think he has a nice weight on his back, as a five-year-old he has the profile to improve and while he was out of form over fences recently, I think reverting back to hurdles would really see him to better effect.

The seven-furlong maiden at Galway (5.30pm) features a 16 runner field. I think its notable that Colin Keane, who rode He Is Hybrid on his last two starts, opts to ride Dandy Magic for Emmet Mullins. He’s drawn from stall ten, and interestingly, he’s up a furlong in trip. Colin Keane was onboard on debut, and that run at Navan last time looks like a solid effort. If Dandy Magic is good enough for the champion jockey, he’s good enough for me.

Next up is the Handicap Chase (6.00pm), which is a consolation race for horses who weren’t high enough handicapped to get into the Galway Plate. In this race I like Whacker Clan for Rachael Blackmore and Henry De Bromhead, who ran a huge race at the Cheltenham Festival when finishing third in the National Hunt Chase. He’s a horse that races up with the pace, which will suit at Galway, and dropping back in trip to two-miles-six-furlongs should see him to better effect. He didn’t look like he stayed in the Scottish National, neither in the extended trip at Cheltenham. If we see the same form as what we saw at the Cheltenham October Meeting, then we can expect a big run.

Next is a mile and a half handicap (6.35pm), featuring Sirius, Monday night’s emphatic feature race winner. That was over two miles, but this time she is over a shorter trip and with a seven-pound penalty with Shane Foley onboard. However, I think she remains very hard to beat, and it is very self-explanatory from stall one. She could still be ahead of the handicapper here.

The fillies’ maiden over a mile-and-a-half (7.10pm) features a big field of 15 runners. The one I like in this is Dermot Weld’s filly Sacred Oath. She’s stepping up two furlongs in trip from her initial run at the Curragh, where she finished behind Siege Of Troy. I thought she shaped with great promise there as she made up good ground from the back of the field. By Lope De Vega, she should appreciate this new trip, and she looks the one for me here.