Gordon Elliott has six chances to record a landmark fifth Tote Galway Plate success but could be trumped by the most successful figure of all in Ireland’s biggest summer steeplechase prize.
JP McManus’s silks have been carried to Plate success seven times and the champion owner’s quartet of hopefuls come 7.10 on Wednesday evening include a cross-channel challenger.
In Excelsis Deo represents trainer Harry Fry and Cork jockey Johnny Burke, who won the Plate in 2015 with Shanahan’s Turn. The last English trainer winner of the €270,000 highlight was Oslot in 2008.
In the eight years since Shanahan’s Turn, Elliott has emerged as the Plate’s dominant figure with four wins. One more will make him the most successful Plate trainer of all.
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Elliott’s team is topped by last year’s winner Ash Tree Meadow, who will have to defy topweight if he’s to emulate the last back-to-back winner Ansar (2004-05). Champion jockey Jack Kennedy has opted for Zanahiyr, who is in his first handicap over fences.
Kennedy’s rival Paul Townend is on board Mister Policeman, one of a handful of Willie Mullins hopefuls in a race that could once again wind up being dominated by the sport’s big guns.
A Henry de Bromhead quartet is joined by two from Noel Meade and one each from Gavin Cromwell and Joseph O’Brien. It leaves just three other spots in the 22-strong field. Apart from the Fry runner, French Dynamite represents Mouse Morris while Dunvegan goes for Pat Fahy.
Since 2013, only Hewick in 2022 has interrupted a run of Plate winners from racing’s major stables and he turned out to be good enough to land a King George last Christmas.
Mark Walsh rode McManus’s last Plate winner Early Doors in 2020 and was also on the 2012 winner Bob Lingo. This time he is on the Gavin Cromwell-trained Percival Legallois who looks to boast rock-solid credentials.
Runner-up in a good race at the Punchestown festival in May, he has scored over fences at Ballybrit and considering he’s won over flights at three miles, stamina up the gruelling final hill shouldn’t be an issue.
In contrast, pinning faith in Mister Policeman requires something of a leap of faith in more Mullins magic, admittedly a policy with plenty of pedigree behind it. Nevertheless, he hasn’t lived up to his home reputation so far and was pulled up in the same Punchestown race as Percival Legallois.
The Plate is a rare omission from Rachael Blackmore’s big-race CV although she has another shot at it through Let’s Go Champ who landed a Grade Three handicap at Punchestown. Sam Twiston-Davies’s services have been snapped up for another De Bromhead hope, Amirite.
Elsewhere, the McManus team has three in an earlier handicap hurdle where Walsh is on board So They Tell Me. Pádraig Roche’s runner defied a notable market drift when successful at Punchestown on his first try at a longer trip. A 7lb penalty for that might not stop a follow up.
Mullins has dominated Wednesday’s opener with eight wins in the last decade and has three shots at it this time. My Great Mate is the stable number one although Don’tstopthemusic could prove a difficult opponent given that he has had a spin over hurdles already.
The 1½ mile amateur maiden is often an intense betting heat and Redwood Queen may prove a popular fancy. Jessica Harrington’s Alfheim can’t compete with Redwood Queen in terms of experience. But she is a sister to a Group One winner in Laganore and wasn’t far behind the high class Hanalia on her last start at the Curragh.
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