A POOR weather forecast only adds to the puzzle that is today's Guinness Galway Hurdle and with versatility likely to be the key weapon in any potential winner's armoury the value option may end up being Eagle's Pass.
Heavy rain is predicted to make the going testing for the €220,000 day-four feature which will be bad news for many in the 20-strong field.
However, ground conditions appear not to matter to Eagle's Pass who ran third to Farmer Brown in last year's race and who looked to have an ideal warm-up for this afternoon's race with a recent easy win at Cork.
What's especially significant, however, is that after last year's hurdle on good going he then went to Tralee and sluiced up on heavy ground to the tune of 19 lengths in the Guinness Gold Cup.
That ability to act on anything may end up being vital this afternoon in a contest which sees Dermot Weld pitch in Monday's GPT winner Majestic Concorde alongside the topweight Bobs Pride.
There's a €50,000 bonus on offer if Majestic Concorde can become just the fourth to complete the GPT-Galway Hurdle double but he was only "50-50" to run up to declaration time yesterday as Weld was concerned about a hard race earlier in the week.
The second topweight is Megans Joy and her chance looks to have been seriously dented by the weather prospects. A five-time winner on quick ground last year she looked an ideal Galway Hurdle candidate until climatic conditions intervened.
Nevertheless, she was less than seven lengths off Muirhead in a Grade One on heavy ground last December so it would be unwise to underestimate her threat.
Tony Martin's Northern Alliance and Noel Meade's Definate Spectacle are others who could be inconvenienced by soft going, but Roman Villa's fourth to Barker in last January's Pierse Hurdle gives Gordon Elliott's consistent horse a shout.
However, in a race with a lot of question marks Eagle's Pass looks to provide the best answers and secure jockey Paddy Flood a second Galway Hurdle in three years.
The champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins can score a cross-code double today beginning with Uncle Junior in the Beginners Chase.
Uncle Junior took his time getting the hang of things over hurdles but ended up running at the Cheltenham Festival and also in the French Champion Hurdle in June.
There looked like there would be significant improvement to come from his chasing debut at Killarney earlier this month when three-quarters of a length off Corlaan and with that under his belt Uncle Junior can win.
Mullins runs Dani California in the mile-and-a-half handicap and the filly looks to hold sound claims. She easily won on the flat at Tramore a year ago and is 11lb higher in the ratings now.
Since then she was busy through the winter including when winning at Down Royal and looks a type to go better now she reverts back to the level.
