DAY TWO PREVIEW:COLM O'DONOGHUE'S chance of King George glory on Cape Blanco at the weekend was ruined by Harbinger's freakish winning performance but the jockey will be relying on Maundy Money for some compensation when he lines up in this evening's €120,000 day two Galway Festival feature.
Finding anything reliable in a fiercely-contested 18-runner handicap like the Topaz Mile is usually as thankless a task as chasing Harbinger was, but on past form it should be hard to keep Maundy Money from playing a big role in the big race.
In 2009 David Marnane’s ultra-consistent seven-year-old was runner-up to Rock And Roll Kid despite having compromised his chance in a major way by running way too free in the early stages.
Later that week Maundy Money also narrowly missed out in a tight finish to the Sunday feature when his chance wasn’t helped by getting hit on the head by one of his rival’s whips and that was just the last of a series of performances that prove his liking for this specialist track.
In 2008 he won twice at the festival and although Maundy Money hasn’t actually scored since then, he looks to have a lot going for him again this evening.
Critically O’Donoghue’s mount has a decent draw in box 13 and is just a couple of pounds higher in the ratings compared to last year. The figure puts him 10lb better in with Rock And Roll Kid and if Maundy Money settles a little better this time round he should be a major player.
Not surprisingly there is no scarcity of prospective dangers including Rock And Roll Kid himself who is back for another crack at a race that was famously known for years as the McDonagh.
Only the presence of the Group Three Gladness winner Kargali prevents Rock And Roll Kid from topping the weights and there is a substantial gap in the ratings back to Worldy Wise and the English raider Extraterrestrial, unplaced in the John Smith’s Cup, but whose trainer Richard Fahey knows how to win in Ballybrit.
Bigger threats could come from further down the handicap though with Sixteen Forty Two, the Lincolnshire winner Big Robert, sure to be suited by any ease in the going, and Royal Astronomer, sure to appreciate a furious early gallop.
That shouldn’t harm Maundy Money’s chance either and neither will any ground changes. Throw in a good draw and his liking for Ballybrit and it’s not hard to see him securing O’Donoghue a second win in the race after Sheer Tenby’s victory nine years ago.
Ordinarily a Dermot Weld-trained horse having a second start over flights who has already won three bumpers, a flat maiden and has previous track form would be a no-brainer in the opening maiden hurdle.
But Eoin Griffin and Barry Geraghty have complicated things by entering Drumfire, a smart flat horse in Britain for Mark Johnston who transferred plenty of that form to his first Irish start for Griffin when chasing home Profound Beauty in the Challenge Stakes at Leopardstown earlier in the month.
Universal Truth couldn’t have done that on the level but he does have jumping experience from Leopardstown last Christmas and Weld will have some line to Drumfire through Profound Beauty.
Weld’s record in the juvenile fillies maiden is predictably impressive with previous winners of the quality of the subsequent Irish Oaks heroine Dance Design. This time he introduces a Juddmonte newcomer, Zaminast, who is a half-sister to Famous Name and is reputed to be useful.
Weld should also be successful with Parlour in the last.
