Tote Galway Plate: five key runners and a 16-1 tip

Horses who win both the Guinness Galway Hurdle and Tote Galway Plate are a rarity. Course legend Ansar was the last to win both races, taking the Hurdle in 2001 and scooping the Plate in 2004 and 2005 among a dozen runs at the track.

More than two decades later, Nurburgring, trained by Joseph O’Brien, seeks to emulate him in the quickest time possible. He was only 4 when he won the Galway Hurdle 12 months ago and you must journey back to 1990 to find the last five-year-old to pick up the Plate.

O’Brien is no stranger to glory in the Plate, having struck with the JP McManus-owned Early Doors in 2020.

He also has another candidate for McManus next week in Common Practice, last seen running on the Flat at The Curragh in May.

Numerically, Gordon Elliott, who has secured four Plate triumphs, is out on his own with ten of the 32 entries including last year’s second and third, Duffle Coat and Zanahiyr, smart mare Shecouldbeanything and the decisive McHale Mayo National Handicap Chase winner Western Fold. Arctic Fly, Blood Destiny and Olympic Man are three of Willie Mullins’ seven entries, while Cheltenham Festival winner Jazzy Matty remains in contention for Cian Collins.

Anyway and Thecompanysergeant, who each found one too good at Cheltenham in March, could represent Ken Budds and Gavin Cromwell respectively.

Jesse Evans, a standing dish at the meeting, is on course to again represent Noel Meade, trainer of last year’s winner Pinkerton and the 2014 scorer Road To Riches.

Here are five key runners for the race, in preferred order, with their respective RaceiQ Jump Index scores out of 10. 

RaceIQ Jump Index score: 6.4. Galway form: 32. Odds: 16-1. 

I don’t think there’s much doubt he’s got the potential to be well-handicapped running off a mark of 137, and concerns about his jumping are offset by the fact that he's trained by Willie Mullins and is chalked up at 16-1.

He ran five times over fences as a novice last season, being a huge eye-catcher on his chasing bow when finishing about five lengths fourth to stablemate Dancing City at Punchestown. He might well have won that day had he not almost blundered away Danny Mullins four from home. 

The RaceiQ data tells us he lost 9.56mph in the incident, with his speed recovery time being 2.47sec. By way of comparison, the winner, later rated 151 in the season, registered 0.4sec. 

A couple of runs later he won a beginners’ chase at Naas before having his sights raised. He went off favourite for the Scottish Grand National, off a mark of 142, and ran well for a long way, but palpably did not stay. 

Surprisingly, he ran in the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown just a fortnight later, as Mullins pursued the trainers’ championship. Olympic Man was pulled up before halfway after a couple of early errors but we can just put a line through that effort. 

An extended 2m 6f should suit him much better and he's been freshened up. If he get in a rhythm with his jumping, then he could well be in business. 

RaceIQ Jump Index score: 6.6. Galway form: 3P1. Odds: 8-1. 

In the build-up to the Cheltenham Festival, the Racing TV digital team visited the yard of Gavin Cromwell and asked him who his best chance of a winner at the meeting was. 

The trainer nominated Thecompanysergeant in the Plate, which was quite leftfield given he’d had only one previous run for the yard, when defeated over hurdles. 

Cromwell’s confidence was almost vindicated, though, as Thecompanysergeant ran a cracker, beating everything bar the progressive Jagwar in a ding-dong finish. 

The eight-year-old signed off for the season with a run over hurdles at Punchestown, running creditably without posing the same threat he had in March. 

Thecompanysergeant’s jumping had been a bit hit and miss when he was formerly trained by Denis Hogan, but it was fine at Cheltenham, where he got a RaceiQ Jump Index score of 7.4. He’s only 2lb higher in the ratings and connections could again use the claim of conditional Conor Stone-Walsh, who has beenaboard for his past three runs. 

RaceIQ Jump Index score: 7.5. Galway form: F2. Odds:16-1. 

Went off at 125-1 for the Jack Richards Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham in March but belied those odds by beating all bar Caldwell Potter, who subsequently won in Grade One company at Aintree. 

It didn’t look a fluke, with the way he kept on after racing prominently indicating the extra couple of furlongs of the Plate would be within his compass. 

He had Nurburgring a couple of lengths adrift that day and is able to meet him on 1lb better terms yet is more than three times his price. 

Anyway spent the next three months resting on his laurels before resurfacing in a beginners chase at Kilbeggan last month, where he was too strong for the odds-on You Oughta Know. 

Liam Quinlan, a conditional, rode him on that occasion, and it will be interesting if trainer Ken Budds again wants to ease his burden by 5lb. 

RaceIQ Jump Index score: 7.4. Galway form: 1. Odds: 9-2 fav. 

The Galway Hurdle is usually one of the fiercest, most competitive races of the year, but Nurburgring turned last year’s renewal into a procession, powering home by seven lengths. 

He seemed to have unfinished business over the smaller obstacles but connections reverted back to the Flat, and then explored chasing. 

He looked something of a “plot job” for the Jack Richards Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham in March but had to settle for a creditable staying-on fourth behind Caldwell Potter.

That hinted at untapped stamina reserves, a point that was enforced with his neck defeat in the Ascot Stakes at the Royal Meeting in June. To get his eye back in for this contest, he won a four-runner novice chase at Killarney this month. 

Nurburgring could easily have more to offer, although he is 3lb higher than at Cheltenham, and the bookmakers have priced him up defensively. 

RaceIQ Jump Index score: 7.5. Galway form: 21. Odds: 16-1. 

Joseph O’Brien has a formidable second string to his bow in Common Practice, winner of two of his four races over fences and one of “only” three JP McManus-owned contenders for this year’s Plate. 

The Flat-bred six-year-old has been something of a slow burner, with his previous run at the Galway Festival coming when runner-up in a handicap on the level in 2022. 

His hurdling career hit a plateau, but he’s made a promising start over fences, landing a Grade Three contest at Thurles in March before finishing fourth to Sea Music in a 2m 4f handicap chase at the Punchestown Festival, when compromised by a sluggish start. He’s 9lb better off with that rival on this occasion, plus is unexposed over longer trips. 

The way he stuck to his task when third in a 1m 6f handicap on the Flat at The Curragh last time suggests next week’s stamina test could unlock more improvement.