Galway Festival Preview: Key runners in the week’s feature races

Betting preview for the Summer Festival

There’s nothing in racing quite like the Galway Summer Festival. Run over a mammoth seven days, the week features a mix of flat and jump contests and a total prize fund of over £1.7m.

All of the top trainers will be there. So too will a number of classy raiders, including Limini, Whiskey Sour and Galway veteran Baraweez. The Coral News Team has looked over the cards and picked out some of the key runners and riders in each of the day’s feature contests.

Connacht Handicap (7:40pm, Monday)

One of the big betting heats on Monday evening is the Connacht Hotel Handicap. Up to 19 runners will tackle the 2m 1f contest, with Willie Mullins’ raider Limini pencilled in as the short-price favourite.

The seven-year-old has won on the flat three times before but this will be her first run on level ground for the Irish-trainer. Ascot Stakes-fourth Chelkar is considered a danger thanks to his good form and handy draw, while Benkei – third in 2016 – can usually be relied upon to challenge in this event.

Colm Quinn BMW Handicap Mile (7:40pm, Tuesday)

Mullins won this last year with Riven Light and the seven-year-old is among the entries once again for this 1m contest. The son of Raven’s Light goes off a much higher mark this time around and will face competition from a host of big names.

Inscribe has won three of his last four runs across the Irish Sea, while Bond Street is sure to be given a better ride than when finishing seventh in the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot. Baraweez has never finished outside the top-six in any race at Galway and has come home fifth twice in this renewal.