Bashing for bookmakers at Galway Summer Festival

THE only locally trained winner at the 2016 Galway Summer Festival – 50/1 rank outsider Poormans Hill – brought only minimal relief to the bookmakers who suffered something of a bashing at Ballybrit last week.

Heavy losses for the layers might fly in the face of some other shock results – two 66/1 beginners chase winners and a 40/1 upset in a flat handicap – but the bookmakers were left counting the of a difficult seven days with results mostly stacking up in favour of the punters.

The nadir was reached last Friday evening when five of the seven market leaders won, together with a 5/4 second favourite, Triplicate in the concluding Guinness Maiden, and the heavily supported Intrepid Prince which was backed at odds of 25/1 off-course into 7/1 in the Arthur Guinness Handicap.

The success of the Michael O’Callaghan trained Intrepid Prince, which won again at Nass on Monday, was completing a notable jockey for Galway jockey Leigh Roche, who earlier on the card had steered Golden Spear to victory in the featured €100,000 Guinness Handicap . . . Tony Martin’s 3/1 leading fancy going one better than 12 months ago in the same race.

Roche wasn’t the only Galway jockey on the mark at the festival as it was Tommie O’Brien, son of Athenry-based trainer Val, who was in the saddle when Poormans Hill sprung that big 50/1 shock for the Clarinbridge yard of John Neilan in the bumper on Guinness Hurdle day.

Owned by a 10-person local syndicate from the parish, including former Galway goalkeeper Liam Donoghue and ex-Clarinbridge player Brian Carr, Poormans Hill showed plenty of resolution in wearing down Deise Diamond in the shadow of the post.

Neilan was the only Galway trainer to hit the jackpot at the festival, but spare a thought for Iggy Madden’s ten-year-old Cairdiuil, twice a course winner in the past, which had to settle for two narrow defeats in seven furlong handicaps during the meeting.

It was also something of luckless week for Kilcolgan-based Steve Mahon, who saddled four seconds at the festival and must particularly regret the agonising defeat of Afatcat in the Martinstown Opportunity Handicap Hurdle on Sunday – jockey Chris Timmons losing an iron between the last flights.

Full coverage in this week’s Galway City Tribune.