Galway Hurdle verdict: ‘This mare will lead them a merry dance from the front’ 🕺

The big race of the day at Galway Racecourse on Thursday is the Guinness Galway Handicap Hurdle and it is a cracking field. Make sure you tune in to our ITV Racing tips on the day too where we have experience tips and opinions for Glorious Goodwood. Adrian Wall is very keen on a mare for the Galway feature and will give his reasoning below. Best of luck if you have a play and remember, always bet responsibly.

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5.05 Galway Festival

Trainer Dermot McLoughlin is certainly no stranger to success, winning consecutive Irish Grand Nationals with Freewheelin Dylan in 2021, and April’s winner Lord Lariat, both at huge prices. The shrewd trainer is targeting the Galway Hurdle with Santa Rossa, and the mare couldn’t have been more impressive when landing the Grimes Hurdle at Tipperary at the end of June.

Santa Rossa is a daughter of Jeremy and she had always shown plenty of ability from her early days when winning a Grade 2 bumper at the 2019 Dublin Festival. Although a beaten favourite at Killarney in May, she came back to form under jockey Darragh O’Keeffe who keeps the ride in the big one.

She raced from the front when winning the Grimes last time, seeing off the challenge of some good horses like Sole Pretender and Saint Roi in the process. You really want to be prominent around Galway too so this looks like the perfect test for her now and she looks really well handicapped off just 144 on handicap debut.

There is no doubt that her last run can also be marked up as she was very keen early doors and it was a surprise to many that she lasted home, but she really showed her class.

If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.

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Bet £10 & Get £30 in Free Bets for new customers at bet365. Min deposit requirement. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply. Registration required. #ad