The white flag is raised on the week-long Galway marathon that will see almost 200,000 people travel to Ballybrit and bet an estimated £19.7 million over the 52 scheduled races.
The GPT Amateur Handicap with a first prize of £32,800 is the first-day highlight. Always one of the most competitive races at the festival, this year Topacio can make the roar for the GPT winner even more raucous than usual. Topacio is owned by the Pearse Racing Club, which has been set up to improve the local Pearse Stadium facility.
The horse comes to Galway on the back of one recent run, a reasonable fifth to Francis Bay in a Curragh handicap. Topacio is one of the better hurdlers in the field, running off a 125 mark in April, but will be competing from slightly out of the handicap as he tries for a first flat success since Frankie Dettori won on him at Nottingham in October 1999.
Hughes also runs last year's surprise winner, Gamekeeper, but a bigger danger to all could be Fearsome Factor, who looked to have more in hand than his subsequent 7lb penalty when beating Dr Torus at Killarney last time.
Izmir and the veteran Hill Society should also figure. However, Topacio has a featherweight compared to what he has to carry over flights, will have no problem with the likely dig in the ground and in Alan Crowe has one of the better jockeys in the field.
Dermot Weld can make his traditional mark at the festival, particularly with Sights On Gold in the seven-furlong maiden. This colt ran third to Sholokhov on his debut at the Curragh, which looked an ideal preparation for the Galway test. Weld's Killarney winner, Daqtora, can successfully move up to handicap company in the fifth race; and Weld could also be on the mark in the last with Kilcrea Shya.
Those looking to set a winning tone for the week could do worse than side with Snob Wells in the four-year-old hurdle. Placed efforts to smart performers like Holy Orders and Rostropovich preceded a recent run on the flat, and this ground should be ideal. Grimshaw disappointed at Killarney but could be a value bet in the two-mile handicap hurdle; and Mick Kinane looks a significant booking for Marko Jadeo in the mile handicap.
