House of Tudor rules in Galway

TUDOR City came off a two-year cold list when handing trainer Tony Martin his third triumph in the Guinness Galway Hurdle at a sweltering Ballybrit yesterday.

Successful with Thomas Edison in 2014 and Quick Jack 12 months later in the traditional Thursday feature of the summer festival, Martin again showed he knows what it takes to land the coveted €300,000 contest.

Carrying the colours of John Breslin, who also owned Quick Jack, Tudor City came between the gallant front-runner Due Reward and well supported favourite Band Of Outlaws after the last, with Robbie Power seeing at his strongest in getting his ‘hold-up’ mount home by half a length.

Due Reward kept on bravely for second, with the Fred Winter Cheltenham winner, Band Of Outlaws, just a further three quarters of a length behind in a race which wasn’t run at the expected furious gallop.

Much local interest centred on the fortunes of top weight Sole Pretender from the Gort-based Norman Lee yard, and though the five-year-old had every chance approaching the home turn, the horse’s welter-burden took its toll on the climb to the line in finishing fifth.

For full coverage of the Galway Races – don’t miss this week’s Galway City Tribune.