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2026 Galway Festival tips: Donn McClean's five best bets
By Donn McClean
Last Updated: Mon 27 Jul 2026
Irish racing expert Donn McClean reveals his five best bets at this week's Galway Races Summer Festival! Enjoy EVERY race live on Racing TV.
Light Up The Dark
Best odds: 7-1.
Winner of her maiden last summer at Down Royal over a mile and five furlongs, Light Up The Dark ran a big race in a two-mile handicap at last year’s Galway Festival to finish a close-up third behind Teed Up and Shoda.
Well back in the field early on that day, she made good progress on the run down the hill, travelling well, and she and her stable companion Shoda moved on together on the run around the home turn. She stuck to her task well on the far side, going down by just a length in the end to Galway specialist Teed Up, who did remarkably well to get up and win, with the first three clear.
Teed Up and Shoda were both rated 78 then, and they are both rated 10lb higher now.
Light Up The Dark was an impressive winner of a handicap off a mark of 81 at Gowran Park in April on her return this season. She didn’t run again after that until her most recent run at Fairyhouse nearly three weeks ago, when she finished off her race well to finish fourth behind Tounsivator.
That run should have brought her forward nicely for today’s race. Joseph O’Brien’s mare gets to race off a mark of 89, 11lb higher than the mark off which she raced at this meeting last year and, a five-year-old who has raced just nine times, she has the potential to go beyond that mark. She obviously handles the track, she is versatile in terms of ground conditions, her trainer’s horses continue to be in tremendous form and John Gleeson, who is two for three on her, will be a big asset in this race.
Loughrea
Best odds: 10-1.
Loughrea has raced just four times, it may be that he will lack the requisite experience for the rough and tumble of a Galway Mile, but he is a young, progressive individual who has a great attitude. He has the potential to go beyond the handicap rating of 91 off which he will race on Tuesday, and he may have the mental fortitude for the test that the race presents.
He stuck to his task well to win his maiden at The Curragh on Irish Derby weekend, keeping on well enough to get home by a neck from the fast-finishing Gliondar.
Given a mark of 86 after that, he was good again in winning his first handicap at Leopardstown last time off that mark. He was keener than ideal through the early throes of that race, and he had to go wider than ideal into the home straight, but he travelled best of all to the two-furlong marker, and he picked up well when his rider Andrew Slattery asked him to. He only got home by a neck in the end from Aviatrice, but it looked like he was only doing as much as he needed to do.
The handicapper raised him by 5lb for that run to a mark of 91, but he has the potential to continue his progress now. Andy Slattery nominated this race for him in the winner’s enclosure at Leopardstown, a race that the trainer won 10 years ago with Creggs Pipes, and it is a logical target for the Elzaam gelding. He stays a mile well, he could get 10 furlongs, his grandam won twice over an extended 10 furlongs at Dundalk, and a strongly-run stiff extended mile could be ideal.
His draw in stall 21 looks trick on the face of it, but, depending on how the race is run, a high draw can often be an advantage in this race. The first three home in the race last year emerged from stalls two, three and one respectively, and the 2024 winner emerged from stall one, but the six previous winners were drawn, respectively, 15, 19, 17, 12, 14 and 18.
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Nowwhatdoyouthink
Nowwhatdoyouthink improved nicely for Ray Hackett last spring. A close-up second behind the progressive C’Est Ta Chance in a Grade 3 novices’ chase at Thurles in March, he stepped forward from that next time when he beat his two rivals in a Grade 3 contest at Cork, and he put up a career-best performance on his final run last season, when he finished third in the Grade 1 Champion Novice Chase at the Punchestown Festival.
He can be marked up on the bare form of that run too, because he was keen through the early part of the race, but his jumping was really good, and he travelled best of all to the third last fence. His run flattened out from there, as his early exertions probably took their toll, but he still finished third, just over eight lengths behind Western Fold, last year’s Galway Plate winner.
The handicapper raised him by 6lb for that run to a mark of 142, but that was more than fair. He finished in among horses rated in the low 150s, and the winner was rated 155. He is only seven and he has raced just eight times over fences, and he has since joined Gordon Elliott, who has been responsible for five of the last 10 winners of the Plate. There are lots of positives.
Laafi
Best odds: 12-1.
There are also lots of positives about Laafi’s chance in the Galway Hurdle the following day.
First past the post in the conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle at the Aintree Grand National meeting in April, Bill Durkan’s horse ran a big race in the Swinton Hurdle at Haydock next time. He travelled well through his race, just behind the pace, and he looked the most likely winner when he jumped to the front over the third last flight. He was just caught on the run-in by Moon Chime, but it was still a big run, and the winner won well on the flat at Kempton next time.
A classy handicapper on the flat for William Haggas, he wore cheekpieces for the first time over hurdles at Haydock, and it appeared as if they elicited a little bit of improvement. He is progressive anyway, and it looks like his astute connections have had the Galway Hurdle in mind for him for a little while. He is not alone in that, of course, but his running style should be well suited to a Galway Hurdle, and, a six-year-old who has raced just seven times over hurdles, he has the potential to go beyond his mark of 143, which is just 2lb higher than the British mark off which he raced in the Swinton Hurdle.
Fixation
Race: Guinness Handicap (6.35, Friday)
Best odds: --
Fixation was impressive in winning the Ladies Derby at The Curragh on Irish Derby weekend.
Strong in the market beforehand, Johnny Murtagh’s horse travelled well through his race for Georgie Benson, prominent in the group that chased the two breakaway leaders. Still on the bridle as they raced inside the two-furlong marker, he picked up well when his rider asked him to. He hit the front at the furlong marker, and he cleared away impressively to win by four lengths, leaving the impression that he had more in hand than the bare winning margin.
The handicapper raised him by 9lb for that win, but you had to have expected a hike of that type of magnitude. He has raced just nine times, and just seven times on turf, so he has the potential to improve again on his rating of 90. The third and fifth from the Ladies Derby, Cooley’s Mist and Ob La Di, finished first and second in a 13-furlong handicap at Leopardstown next time, a race from which the third horse Tatum has since come out and won too. The form looks solid.
The step up to a mile and a half is a step into the unknown, but he stays 10 and a half furlongs well and, a half-brother to Cossack Cach, a winner over an extended two miles over hurdles and over fences, there is every chance that he will get the trip all right.
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