Nobler

(Joseph O’Brien)

Galway, August 2nd

Galway can be a difficult track for two-year-olds to win on debut, so the Mick Mulvany-trained Bessie Abott deserves credit for her first-time-out 50/1 upset in the seven-furlong median auction maiden on day five at the festival. The experience of a first run here for the third-placed Nobler won’t be lost of the Joseph O’Brien-trained juvenile. This well-bred, 120,000gns breeze-up buy looked really green but showed a fair deal of natural ability to clock the fastest final two furlongs in the race of any member of the 14-runner field. He should be tough to beat in a similar event next time.

Arabian Diamond

(Gordon Elliott)

Galway, August 3rd

Given he hadn’t run in 322 days, it must go down as a decent return to action from Arabian Diamond with his third in the opening two-mile-one-furlong maiden hurdle at Galway last Saturday. At the time, some of his defeats last season might have felt slightly disappointing, but the form of those races have worked out to be better than probably expected. He bumped into subsequent Grade 1 winner Readin Tommy Wrong when runner-up in a Ballinrobe summer bumper, Grade 1 second High Class Hero, Tag Man and Black Bamboo had his measure at this meeting last year and Sequestered, who edged him out at Sligo, ended up with an opening mark of 130. A maiden hurdle win can be expected in the coming month. His final furlong was faster than anything else in the race here.

Tennessee Stud

(Joseph O’Brien)

Galway, August 3rd

Not completely dissimilar to his stablemate Nobler a day earlier, there is surely plenty of improvement to come from Tennessee Stud after his staying-on third in a traditionally warm mile maiden for two-year-olds at Galway last Saturday. The Wootton Bassett colt wasn’t as quickly away as some of his rivals on debut, jumped a road crossing and kept on nicely while still looking raw in the closing stages. He wasn’t given an overly hard time of things when it was clear he couldn’t reach the winner and rates a likely maiden winner.

The Diddler

(Paddy Quinlan)

Galway, August 3rd

Patrick Mullins executed a shrewd front-running ride on Cameletta Vega in the mares’ bumper at Ballybrit on Saturday, able to save energy at the head of affairs on the 8/11 favourite and making life tough for anything racing off the pace. With that in mind, The Diddler’s fast-finishing second can be marked up as a smart performance. She got back in the belly of the field, had to wait for a clear run and finished out well in a faster final three-furlong time than anything else in the race. There was solid market support behind her on this occasion and she looks to be improving.