A horse who interested me as soon as I looked at the race was WELD ARAB (5:30). An unexposed type running against more highly tried horses, he is a fascinating contender on handicap debut. There are a lot of question marks against his name, the distance and the ground being the main two. But his opening mark of 66 could be fair (63 today with Leigh Roche's 3 pound claim) and the first time blinkers could bring about some improvement. What could also be in his favour is that his trainer Dermot Weld won with a similar type at Galway on Monday in Timiyan. He wore a first time visor on his handicap debut and sauntered home by 5 lengths. That success was off a mark of 77 so on that evidence, Weld Arab's mark of 63 for today could be very lenient given that he didn't achieve much more or less to what Timiyan had achieved in his three starts. Finally, Weld Arab is a horse who is closely related to the likes of the top class Ghanaati and Mawatheeq, so really he should be flying higher than this, but if he can show even a fraction of what they showed on the track, he has to have a mighty chance.
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| Ghanaati, who's is a half sister to Weld Arab's dam Itqaan. |
The handicap chase at 3:55 looks a race where it would pay to look at the horses who carry the lower weights. The last five runnings of this have been won by horses who have had an official rating of 127 or less. Also, no horse younger than seven has won this race so putting that into consideration the selections are FORMIDABLEOPPONENT, who although was a fortunate winner last time out due to the leader falling at the final fence, did beat the rest rather easily and CNOC NA SIOGA who is handicapped to run a good race based on his best form. The last four winners of this have all carried less then 10 stone so that bodes well for Danny Mullins' mount today.
The 4:30 had the makings of quite a competitive handicap before the defections of Dermot Weld's filly Sparkle Factor and the consistent Zalty but it is still a decent race. BARAWEEZ has been running very solid races lately including a third place at Galway on Tuesday. Although the drop back to seven furlongs does not look the most obvious route to take (he finished strongly on Tuesday) the rain that has come may cancel that out as it will become more of a stamina test. Also, when he was disqualified when first past the post at Newcastle over a mile, he was in the lead towards the finish a fair way out but just had a tendency to wonder under pressure so maybe 7 furlongs may not be all that bad for him. HIDDEN OASIS should also go well, especially now the rain has come as the best of his form has come with cut in the ground.
Hope you enjoy the last day of Galway
Happy Punting!
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