FIVE GREAT GAMBLES AT GALWAY
Punters trying to put one over on the bookies has been part and parcel of festival folklore since hooves were first set on Ballybrit. Johnny Ward looks back on five of the most memorable betting coups that hit the layers for six
MAGIC COMBINATION 1999
There are gamblers and then there is Barney Curley. In the early 1980s he reckoned he lost £100,000 over the course of one week in Ballybrit. He never forgot the mental anguish that Galway had left and in 1999 he returned – with revenge on his mind. So confident was Curley, a master at working the handicap system, he was sure that he had artillery primed to recoup his losses of almost 20 years previously.
Running off a derisory mark of 44 in a low-grade mile-and-a-half handicap on the Thursday, Jamie Spencer literally toyed with his foes on Magic Combination, as the in-running comments will tell you about the 15/8 favourite.
“Tracked leaders, always travelling easily, progress 4f out, led approaching straight, not extended, eased close home, hard held.”
Curley was, however, livid afterwards, and threatened to take legal action against the Irish Horseracing Authority, the precursor to today’s Horse Racing Ireland, over the refusal of one major firm to accept his bet on the horse. The action followed a vow from the legendary punter to boycott Irish racing in protest at having a bet declined on the runaway winner.
“Having bookmakers who won’t take a bet is a national disgrace. It’s the same as letting pickpockets or three-card tricksters into the ring,” he blasted.
CLOONE RIVER 2004
Cloone River finished second in the Galway Hurdle in 2003 and, like a football team out for vengeance the next season, there was only going to be one plan for the following campaign. Indeed, the Paul Nolan runner – which was owned by a Galwegian – was kept exclusively to the Flat until 12 months later, when Nolan would have him primed to run the race of his life.
“From the serene beauty of Goodwood,” wrote one English scribe, “the biggest prize, biggest crowd and biggest gamble of the racing day was seen on the west coast of Ireland, where Cloone River justified the sort of punt synonymous with the Galway Festival to take the Galway Hurdle.”
Sent off 7/2, having been 16/1 ante-post, everything went according to the spirit of the punt under John Cullen, and the manic run of Nolan on the other side of the rails up the hill to cheer him home became the stuff of legend.
“Estimates of the amount which the bookmakers had to fork out on the track ran well into six figures, possibly topping €500,000,” noted Damien McElroy in the Irish Independent.
FARMER BROWN 2007
“Farmer Brown,” enthused one writer, “didn’t just land the Galway Hurdle at Ballybrit, he ran away with the race. In doing so he gave trainer Pat Hughes his second win in the contest – he scored with Quinze in 1999 – and brilliant pilot, Davy Russell, his first.”
“He won so easily he reminded me of Quinze,” exclaimed Hughes, after his charge had cost the layers a bundle, backed from 6/1 to 9/2 favourite. The ill-fated six-year-old was recognised as a progressive sort and a conspicuous Flat prep attracted lots more attention, as he was denied promotion by the Leopardstown stewards after being knocked sideways by the winner, Westlake, then.
Farmer Brown scythed through the field between the last two flights to land the money in impressive fashion under Russell.
“Everyone in the place seemed to back it,” said one layer, as those of the high-street variety made quotes for the horse to win the Champion Hurdle. He would never race again after struggling in that Grade One the following season.
CARLINGFORD LOUGH 2014
The Galway Plate afternoon of 2014 had to survive a deluge of rain but that did not stop Tony McCoy and Carlingford Lough from justifying a big pre-race gamble and leading home an unprecedented 1-2-3 in the festival’s flagship race for owner JP McManus.
However, what was most notable about the coup was that the John Kiely-trained horse did not quite make the cut for the race initially, and was merely a reserve. He managed to get in after another McManus-owned runner, Like Your Style, was declared a non-runner due to the ground changing to soft after that torrential rain.
Like Your Style’s withdrawal on those grounds – excuse the pun – made no sense and, aware that Like Your Style had enjoyed some very good runs on soft or heavy ground, the stewards held an enquiry into his non-participation with trainer Eddie Harty, before bizarrely accepting his reasoning that it was the horse’s first run in some time and that previous races on soft ground had taken their toll.
Carlingford Lough obliged at 7/2 favourite, having been strongly backed ante-post and at the track.
INTREPID PRINCE 2016
This was an inspired, old-fashioned punt from another era. With uninspiring form and a patchy profile, Intrepid Prince was also the mount of Leigh Roche, who did not exactly seem a go-to rider for Michael O’Callaghan if the young Kerry native wanted to target a gamble.
Put in at 25/1 in the morning and slightly shorter in the ring before the race, the layers soon spotted something was up. A bookies’ clerk recalls: “One of the main players in the gamble got a loan of a holdall bag from me to carry out the loot from the racetrack on the day. The horse was punted with approximately 40 bookmakers from early 16/1 to 7/1.”
Quickly away, Intrepid Prince made virtually all the running and never looked in trouble. “It was,” said bookmaker Brian Keenan, “the best gamble I’ve seen anywhere.
“Though we all got drilled, some of us twice, they couldn’t get enough on at any price and the lad who backed it had the nerve to ask could he borrow a sports bag to bring the ‘readies’ out to a car and he went along collecting off us all.
“I’ve never seen as much cash in my life. Fair play to them, they pulled it off brilliantly because he must have had two stone in hand. Connections have tried it a few times since with not much luck but I’m keeping an eye on plenty of the stable’s runners for the last couple of months to see can I spot this year’s horse!”
The stewards requested a report from the trainer as to the apparent improvement in form of Intrepid Prince. He reported that a combination of the first-time application of a visor, jumping off very well and making all, had in his opinion, brought about the apparent improvement in form.