By Robbie Butler
Followers of horse racing in Ireland will no doubt have enjoyed last week's Galway Festival. The Ballybrit course was celebrating 150 years in action and was as popular as ever with owners, trainers and punters.
The magic of Galway, which continues to be the most popular festival in Ireland, can be found in the general ordinariness of it's races. Over the course of the 7 days there is a very limited number of high-end races, with a Grade 3 hurdle race, a number of listed races, and the ever-popular Class A handicaps of the Plate and Hurdle. However, many of the races are for lower grade horses, in handicap company.
Making money is very tricky as a result. Unless of course you just follow Champion Trainer Willie Mullins. An even stake of a €2 win if a horse was priced below 5/1, and a €1 each way stake on all horse priced 5/1 and greater, would have again made positive returns, building on similar success in 2017 and 2018.
The plot below shows the return for each of the Mullins' runners over the 7-day festival.
Followers of horse racing in Ireland will no doubt have enjoyed last week's Galway Festival. The Ballybrit course was celebrating 150 years in action and was as popular as ever with owners, trainers and punters.
The magic of Galway, which continues to be the most popular festival in Ireland, can be found in the general ordinariness of it's races. Over the course of the 7 days there is a very limited number of high-end races, with a Grade 3 hurdle race, a number of listed races, and the ever-popular Class A handicaps of the Plate and Hurdle. However, many of the races are for lower grade horses, in handicap company.
Making money is very tricky as a result. Unless of course you just follow Champion Trainer Willie Mullins. An even stake of a €2 win if a horse was priced below 5/1, and a €1 each way stake on all horse priced 5/1 and greater, would have again made positive returns, building on similar success in 2017 and 2018.
The plot below shows the return for each of the Mullins' runners over the 7-day festival.
12 of the 40 starters going to post returned at least the €2 stake. Great White Shark on Day 1 scooped more than €35. Dandy Mag saw a return of €11, while Mr Adjudicator an Minella Beau both returned nearly €10 on Friday.
In total, an €80 stake returned €108.66 or 35.83%. There are few that could report such a return over the 7-day period from following a strategy of reading the form and trying to select the winner. Sometimes accepting you can't pick the winner is the surest way to win.
In total, an €80 stake returned €108.66 or 35.83%. There are few that could report such a return over the 7-day period from following a strategy of reading the form and trying to select the winner. Sometimes accepting you can't pick the winner is the surest way to win.
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