chaumi
Rookie
This might have been better on the antepost thread, but it's in limbo right now.
No harm in having a Galway thread anyway, though.
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A Wave of the Sea
Galway Plate 25 WH/Ladbrokes, B3 bit shorter others
Galway Hurdle Best 66-1 PP, B3
Been around for ages, but still only 7. There's a chance he's not yet peaked, but that also means he's highly experienced for such a relatively young horse.
This is an interesting situation, given the two widely different tests.
After his close enough 4th at 125-1 in the Grade 3 2 mile Tipperary hurdle in early July, some might be missing the fact he's run a close second in the 2021 3-mile Munster National as a 5-year-old baby, coming from the back of midfield.
In last December's Paddy Power, he ran front rank. Lost a length when steadying on the jump 6 out, slightly slower than others 5 out. But still kept fighting to pull back and lead narrowly around the final bend and on the run to the last. Started fading in between the last 2, though was still there till that point. He seemed to empty pretty quickly from there and finished well back - which doesn't tell the real story of how well he ran overall. I can't tell if he was eased or did actually run out of puff.
The take on this could be he'd have done a lot better if settled and come with a run from further behind, as he was in the Munster. Hence, it's not a wildly big stretch to see him going well in the quarter-mile shorter Plate, either running prominently or from further back. A prominent run will probably be the plan, given you could easily see the rider pushing him from the start in last year's Plate to get a front-rank position (clipped the top of the third and came down, my view on this is he was going a little too fast in that effort to be up with the leaders at the speed they were going, and it was just outside his comfort zone). If he goes, I hope they'll try to take it a bit easy and wait till the latter half of the race for a forward move.
If Hewick stands his ground, Wave runs off 10-2. It may feel like he's running loose.
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But he's clearly versatile, as shown in the Tipperary hurdle. Ridden from the back of midfield, he looked the first of the whole field to be in potentially any real trouble on the run to the second-last, but responded well and passed plenty to be a close-enough 4th at the line even though he was still way back jumping the last, hitting the line as well as the winner and certainly with no signs of distress.
Also ran very well in the 2m1f Grade B chase at Leopardstown back in Feb.
If he's ridden from the back in the 2-mile Galway Hurdle, you'd have to think he might struggle to make up too much ground if it's got any bounce and the leaders might have got away/got too much left, but soft ground and a fast enough pace can see him scything through plenty of the field over the last two.
Tough one to second-guess, seemingly having chances either way. Personally, I hope he goes for the hurdle, and McManus must be sorely tempted given that Tipperary run. Perhaps they're thinking along similar lines and waiting to see what the ground's like.
No harm in having a Galway thread anyway, though.
***********************
A Wave of the Sea
Galway Plate 25 WH/Ladbrokes, B3 bit shorter others
Galway Hurdle Best 66-1 PP, B3
Been around for ages, but still only 7. There's a chance he's not yet peaked, but that also means he's highly experienced for such a relatively young horse.
This is an interesting situation, given the two widely different tests.
After his close enough 4th at 125-1 in the Grade 3 2 mile Tipperary hurdle in early July, some might be missing the fact he's run a close second in the 2021 3-mile Munster National as a 5-year-old baby, coming from the back of midfield.
In last December's Paddy Power, he ran front rank. Lost a length when steadying on the jump 6 out, slightly slower than others 5 out. But still kept fighting to pull back and lead narrowly around the final bend and on the run to the last. Started fading in between the last 2, though was still there till that point. He seemed to empty pretty quickly from there and finished well back - which doesn't tell the real story of how well he ran overall. I can't tell if he was eased or did actually run out of puff.
The take on this could be he'd have done a lot better if settled and come with a run from further behind, as he was in the Munster. Hence, it's not a wildly big stretch to see him going well in the quarter-mile shorter Plate, either running prominently or from further back. A prominent run will probably be the plan, given you could easily see the rider pushing him from the start in last year's Plate to get a front-rank position (clipped the top of the third and came down, my view on this is he was going a little too fast in that effort to be up with the leaders at the speed they were going, and it was just outside his comfort zone). If he goes, I hope they'll try to take it a bit easy and wait till the latter half of the race for a forward move.
If Hewick stands his ground, Wave runs off 10-2. It may feel like he's running loose.
************************
But he's clearly versatile, as shown in the Tipperary hurdle. Ridden from the back of midfield, he looked the first of the whole field to be in potentially any real trouble on the run to the second-last, but responded well and passed plenty to be a close-enough 4th at the line even though he was still way back jumping the last, hitting the line as well as the winner and certainly with no signs of distress.
Also ran very well in the 2m1f Grade B chase at Leopardstown back in Feb.
If he's ridden from the back in the 2-mile Galway Hurdle, you'd have to think he might struggle to make up too much ground if it's got any bounce and the leaders might have got away/got too much left, but soft ground and a fast enough pace can see him scything through plenty of the field over the last two.
Tough one to second-guess, seemingly having chances either way. Personally, I hope he goes for the hurdle, and McManus must be sorely tempted given that Tipperary run. Perhaps they're thinking along similar lines and waiting to see what the ground's like.
