By George McDonagh  

THE 2024 renewal of the famed Galway Racing Festival has the potential to be the party of all parties if Padraic Joyce’s Galway footballers can lift the Sam Maguire Cup 24-hours before the seven-day bonanza commences. The action kicks-off with the four-year-old Novice Hurdle that last year went the way of subsequent Grade One winner and Champion Hurdle 2025 contender Mystical Power.

This year’s festival features, the Tote Galway Plate and the Guinness Hurdle, have attracted entries of 33 and 36 respectively, confirming my view that connections who now enter their horses in these top class handicaps do so with the intention of running.

The Galway Plate will see last year’s hero Ash Tree Meadow attempt to join the likes of Tipperary Boy (who won three), Life Of A Lord and Ansar as a back-to-back plate winner, but he will run off a 15 pound higher mark, not forgetting he got one of the rides of the year from Danny Gilligan 12 months ago.

But there are some nicely weighted rivals lurking further down the handicap, including the Mouse Morris trained French Dynamite who off his current rating of 147 is feasibly well treated when you think back to his unlucky Cheltenham defeat by Ga Law in November 2022 off a one pound higher rating. It’s a race Morris would dearly love to win having being cruelly denied when subsequent Grand National hero Rule The World slipped up between the last two fences in 2015.

In Excelsis Deo could make the trip from the Harry Fry yard which have gone close to success at previous festivals. This JP McManus owned runner is prone to the odd costly mistake but ran well behind Shakem Up’arry at the Cheltenham Festival before coming up trumps at the April meeting at the same course.

The Henry de Bromhead stable are always to be feared and Lets Go Champ, a winner at the Punchestown Festival, is one for the shortlist as is Amirite, second to Idas Boy in the Midlands National at Kilbeggan, but this duo may be only playing for places climbing the hill.

As was to be expected, Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott are well represented with the former again saddling last year’s runner up Authorised Art who attempts to mirror the 2021 winner Royal Rendezvous by going one place better.

Looking at the Elliott team, it looks like Ash Tree Meadow is their main hope, but its a huge ask with Tullybeg and Zanahiyr having place prospects at best.

My selection is the Gavin Cromwell trained Percival Legallois, who looks to have had the Plate as his target for a while. A course winner of a beginners chase last October when jumping well, he was also a festival runner-up in 2022 in a three-mile handicap hurdle.

Pictured: Zarak The Brave and jockey Paul Townend return to the winners’ enclosure after landing last year’s Guinness Galway Hurdle at Ballybrit.