I HAVE yet to sample the delights of the Galway Festival – one for the bucket list – which I am led to believe are many and varied.

What the occasion is not especially good for is time analysis, due to a combination of many rail movements and, even more, the fact that there are only a small number of races in any given discipline on any given card, with flat, hurdles, chases and bumpers all mixed in together.

Often the best thing to do is to establish from sectionals whether or not the race in question was a true test and then accept or not accept the overall time recorded as being a fair reflection of the protagonists’ abilities.

Highlights

Particular highlights were, as usual, the Galway Plate on Wednesday and the Galway Hurdle on Thursday, won respectively by Borice and by Tudor City.

The former was a well-run race, in which the winner came again to wrest the spoils from British raider Black Corton, the pair returning 143 and 162 timefigures respectively, with Black Corton nudged up 1lb on account of doing just a bit too much too soon.

The Hurdle was far more tactical, with Tudor City coming home in a finishing speed of 108.9% from the third last despite the stiff last three furlongs. His overall timefigure suffered – just 132 in my book – but he is worth a very healthy 152 after sectionals have been factored in.

Upgrades result in useful figures for the four who followed him home, as well, with Due Reward on 137, Band Of Outlaws on 146, Davids Charm on 143 and top-weighted Sole Pretender on 144.

Reserve

A slow finish to the minor chase on Sunday means that Yorkhill can be credited with a figure of just 138, compared to the 156 of his prime, but there looked to be a fair bit in reserve. Some Neck (142) stayed on into second, while Valseur Lido (133) deserves some extra credit having forced the strong pace.

Sectionals show that the listed fillies’ race won under a penalty by Surrounding on Thursday was a well-run contest, with the winner returning a 97% finishing speed, which is slightly slower than par for seven furlongs here.

As a result, I have a 106 timefigure and 107 sectional rating on the tough and consistent daughter of Lilbourne Lad, whose very best number (111) came when second in a handicap at the Curragh a couple of starts back.

The debutant Lancaster House seemed to run fast when winning a mile maiden on Saturday by eight lengths in an overall time more than 5.0s quicker than managed by the two-year-old Emperor Of The Sun in the preceding race, and sectionals underline that this was as good as it looked.

Lancaster House’s last two furlong speed was 96.7% of his overall race speed, so very close to that of the aforementioned Surrounding, and he earns a timefigure of 97, bumped up to 98 on sectionals. He is not far off listed class already.