Steve Ryder has three horse racing tips for Sunday 4th August.
13:50 Galway
Trainer Ross O’Sullivan has had a fantastic Galway festival with four winners (7/1, 10/1, 11/1 and 4/1) and a third from six runners and hopefully that means BYTHESAMETOKEN (best priced at 8/1) can go two places better than last year in this race.
The 10-year-old was returning from a 70 day break last year when 3rd behind Teed Up in this race off a mark of 112 and he runs off the same mark this year.
Bythesametoken has run well on his previous two starts which have come over fences off higher marks of 123 and 122 so he looks sure to go well back over hurdles off this mark and with the benefit of a recent run in comparison to last season.
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15:30 Galway
The Michael Mulvany trained BARNACULLIA (best priced at 11/4) finished a close 2nd in this race last season and despite running here off a 4lb higher mark, he ran well on the flat here on Wednesday.
The seven-year-old has had a similar preparation to last year where he finished 5th beaten 16 lengths on the flat he was only beaten 5 ¼ lengths this year despite finishing 6th.
Barnacullia finished 2nd only beaten ½ length last year behind Fighting Fit (now 15lbs better off with that rival) off a mark of 130 and he should hold strong claims off a 4lb higher mark. He defied odds of 25/1 to win a novice chase on his only other chase start at the track and he looks a worthy favourite.
16:05 Chester
This looks a competitive renewal of the listed Queensferry Stakes but preference goes to AL SHABAB STORM (best priced at 6/4) who has a fantastic record at Chester.
The Andrew Balding rained three-year-old finished 2nd here over 6f in May when caught too far back before finishing a close 2nd behind Qirat at Goodwood over 7f.
Al Shabab Storm then made all over 7f here winning a handicap by 3 ¾ lengths before following up beating the solid yardstick Breege by 1 ½ lengths in a listed race a month ago.
This drop to 6f shouldn’t inconvenience him if he is able to get a prominent position which he should from Stall 4 and he can hopefully complete a course hat-trick.
