Galway Hurdle 4:45

Diakali looks to be a good bit clear of anything here on form and his mark is lenient by at least 5-6 pounds if not more. He is near the very top of Hurdlers over the last year or 2 and more than likely won’t be far away here. The one problem is Galway is a silly track to be generous and the amount of luck required is far too much to be comfortable backing a 5/1 shot in a very solid 20 runner handicap. I’m very surprised that Wicklow Brave is as big as 16/1 here. He won the best handicap hurdle of the year in an absolute canter beating a horse than afterwards went on to win another big handicap at Punchestown, along with having Quick Jack back in third. He has been raised 15lbs for that run but on that form it would take more than that to make him uncompetitive. His trainer believes he is better on good ground and although we risk him not bothering to get involved at the start there is plenty of juice on the price to take that risk. Pricewise has unfortunately scuppered my other possible value bet in Max Dynamite who was a great price at 25/1 but I’m not as interested at the current 16/1.

2 Points win Wicklow Brave 16/1 Generally