Jim Bolger learned some years ago that the McDonogh Handicap can demand class and his progressive three-year-old Tiger Shark provided just that to win last night's Galway feature.
The 6 to 1 favourite and the highest-weighted three-year-old in the contest made all the running under a decisive Kevin Manning to score by a length from Golden Fact, with the outsider Royal South in third.
In 1995, Bolger was the luckless trainer who provided the runner-up to the subsequent multiple Group One winner Timarida in the McDonogh. This time he was confident that he had the edge.
"Tiger Shark is a classy horse and that is what classy horses do," Bolger said. "The second to Timarida was as good as we had done in the race before and Al Mohaajir had to give her a lot of weight."
Tiger Shark is now likely to be upped to black type races and he showed real quality yesterday to dominate what had looked a competitive race. Challenges were thrown down but Manning could afford to sit up before the line and cope with Tiger Shark's fly jump of the strip of grass denoting the winning line.
As the winner's favourite status in the market suggests, Bolger was not entirely surprised by Tiger Shark's win. He quipped: "As D K Weld would say, `that was the plan'!"
Barney Curley's plan to win at the festival also succeeded when Mystic Ridge also justified favouritism with a front-running performance in the Albatross Handicap.
The legendary gambler won with Mystic Ridge at Leopardstown some weeks ago and, yet again, the horse attracted substantial support in the tax-free market. Millie's Lily briefly threatened to spoil the party in the straight but Jamie Spencer kept Mystic Ridge going to win by three parts of a length.
Curley was unclear about future plans for the winner but they could include a career in America.
"I remember telling Michael Dickinson that I had a horse for him and that he would soon have form. I think he would be a good horse in America over a mile and an eighth and around a bend," said Curley.
The aforementioned Dermot Weld completed his own plan when Stage Affair translated some of his flat ability to jumps and won his first hurdle with a convincing five-length defeat of Admiral Wings.
"He will make a serious hurdler when he gets his act together. This is his game and I imagine he will be kept to hurdling. As his length and a half second to Daylami last year showed, he is a very talented horse," said Weld.
Pat Shanahan and Con Collins teamed up for a double, courtesy of La Rosetta in the juvenile maiden and Delray in the three-year-old version.
Yara started favourite in the first leg but yet again had to settle for the runner-up spot, the sixth time that has happened so far. La Rosetta had to battle extremely hard to get back up and win by the minimum margin, leaving her trainer to say: "She fought really well and I'm thrilled with her."
Delray is another with his share of placed efforts but he got off the mark, dominating his race and staying on to beat Dane's Lady by a length and a half while Michael Kinane secured a dream run up the rail on Bob What that allowed him to hold off Clever Consul by a neck in the last.
The betting figures on Galway's second day took a huge leap with a spectacular £1,415,875 waged with the bookmakers compared to a 1998 figure of £1,068,478.
A second day record crowd of 20,578 also established a second day Tote record with £578,429, up over £80,000 on 1998.
