Galway Plate preview: Donn McClean best bets
By Donn McClean
18:26 · WED July 28, 2021
Donn McClean has two against the field for the tote Galway Plate including an interesting JP McManus runner.
They reckon that over 40,000 people went to Ballybrit for the first Galway Plate in 1869. That is about 240,000 fewer people than went to Ballybrit to see Pope John Paul II 110 years later – it can hold a crowd all right – but it is 39,000 more than there will be in attendance today.
These are the times through which we are navigating our way these days and, actually, there was atmosphere in Ballybrit over the last couple of days. It’s not the normal Galway buzz, but it’s something. Some people is a significant step up on no people.
For 12-time champion jockey Ruby Walsh, being a professional sports person was never a popularity contest.
He looked it as being a results based contest and never got too caught up in what people thought of him. That attitude served him well during his career, which spanned 24 years and yielded over 2500 winners. People s opinion of me didn t overly bother me or worry me. Everyone wants to be popular, but I soon realised that the real popular guys in the weigh-room are the ones that aren t riding the winners, said Ruby Walsh speaking on
We Become Heroes, an RTÉ Sport podcast.
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Torrens crowned jockey champion
By Chris Caldwell
THIRTY-FOUR wins, 25 second places, 32 thirds and 42 fourth placed finishes that earned over half a million in prizemoney during the 2020/21 National Hunt season have ensured that Simon Torrens was crowned Conditional Champion jockey in Ireland.
The Castlederg native enjoyed a number of high-profile handicap wins during the season, notably at the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown in February where he partnered the Pat Fahy-trained Drop The Anchor to win the Ladbrokes Hurdle and A Wave Of The Sea, trained by Joseph O’Brien, to win the Matheson Handicap Chase, both horses owned by JP McManus.
Punchestown Festival day three | Klassical Dream & Energumene star in Willie Mullins 299/1 five-timer
By Sporting Life
20:13 · THU April 29, 2021
A review of all the action from day three of the Punchestown Festival as Energumene and Klassical Dream starred in a Willie Mullins-trained five-timer.
Energumene among five for Mullins
Energumene claimed his second Grade One triumph with a smooth performance from the front in the Ryanair Novice Chase.
Paul Townend enjoyed something of an armchair ride on the 2/5 favourite, who was last seen winning the Irish Arkle at the Dublin Racing Festival, before missing the Sporting Life Arkle at Cheltenham due to a late setback.
UPDATED 5:24PM, APR 27 2021
An unraced four-year-old trained by Willie Mullins that was heavily backed for the closing bumper (7.35) at Punchestown on Tuesday has been withdrawn on veterinary advice.
The Ballylinch Stud-owned Glowing Account had been shortened to a general 2-1 shot (from 7) when making the cut for the day one finale, but now misses the race.
Glowing Account s stablemate Hara Kiri, who was favourite until this morning s market move, heads the betting again at a general 11-4 and is the mount of Patrick Mullins.
There is little to choose between Envoi Allen and Monkfish in the market for the blockbuster Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase (6.30) at Punchestown.