Aidan O’Brien hasn’t missed much during his record-breaking 30-year career but Tuesday’s Galway festival feature is a rare one to elude him.
At this point it’s easier to focus on what O’Brien hasn’t won rather than has, such as Fairyhouse’s Brownstown Stakes being the sole Group race in Ireland he’s yet to land.
Missing out on Galway’s BMW Mile is hardly keeping the Master of Ballydoyle awake either, although having won the Plate back-to-back with Life Of A Lord (1995-96) and the big Hurdle with Toast The Spreece in ‘97, he has a shot at finally filling this festival gap with Salt Lake City.
The colt is the sole three-year-old among 18 runners for a notoriously competitive handicap which was last won by a horse from the Classic generation when Palace Star scored in 2004.
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She ended a productive turn-of-the-century period for the age-group with seven wins in 10 years.
Since then, however, it has been the exclusive preserve of older horses including the veteran nine-year old Saltonstall, winner in 2019 and 2020, who lines up again off topweight.
The oldest runner in the race is one of seven hopes for trainer Ado McGuinness, who came up just short of an unprecedented four-in-a-row as Casanova just failed to peg back Magic Chegaga in 2022.
Casanova is back again, and off a 3lb lower mark, while the triple-course winner Current Option is also a player, as is Johnny Murtagh’s Blues Emperor, who won his last two races at the Curragh and Naas.
Both of those came on quick going and the central element to Tuesday’s highlight looks like being the ground.
Capacity to act in soft going will be a major plus and one that could see the recent Leopardstown winner Celtic Crown emerge as best of the McGuinness septet. It could also bring Mister Wilson into calculations at decent odds.
Gavin Cromwell’s hope has twice won at Galway on soft ground and is having his first start on the flat this year.
Cromwell and jockey Gary Carroll famously boast a perfect two from two track record at Royal Ascot, which underlines how potent a big-race force they can be. A wide draw in 17 might appear discouraging but it is seven years since a winner of this race had a single-digit stall.
The conditions might also prove crucial to Nelda breaking her duck in the following maiden.
The 90-rated filly, a €230,000 purchase, is a full sister to Persuasive who won a QEII on soft ground, while her half-brother Creative Force was also a top-flight winner on easy conditions.
O’Brien’s regally bred Mayfair makes her debut in a juvenile fillies’ maiden won by a trio of subsequent Classic winners in just the last nine years.
They included last year’s winner Tahiyra and her team of the Dermot Weld, the Aga Khan the Chris Hayes supply another newcomer this time in Tannola. She is a half-sister to the high-class Tarawa, who has shown a liking for easy ground.
Ballydoyle’s principal big-race focus on Tuesday is cross-channel and Emily Dickinson’s attempt to secure Group One glory in the Goodwood Cup. She is joined by her stable companion Broome in the stamina highlight won by Kyprios a year ago and Yeats in 2008.
Earlier on the card, Mountain Bear flies the Ballydoyle flag in the Group Two Vintage Stakes.
