Galway Festival: Shanpallas primed to land Plate

Even sporting greats like to get their new jobs off on the right foot and Barry Geraghty will hope Shanpallas can cement his position as JP McManus's number one jockey with victory in the €220,000 Tote Galway Plate.

Geraghty makes no secret of how the Plate and tomorrow’s Guinness Galway Hurdle are the two remaining elusive big pots he wants to tick off an already remarkable big-race CV and victory in the summer’s biggest steeplechase prize would be a timely boost to his new association with McManus.

The former champion jockey has tasted top-flight success for the legendary owner in the past – notably with Jezki in the 2014 Champion Hurdle – but was confirmed as Tony McCoy’s successor in the McManus job just a month ago.

McCoy rode two of McManus’s six previous Plate winners but also picked wrong in 2012 when Mark Walsh stepped in for the winning ride on Bob Lingo so Geraghty’s first task was to pick Shanpallas from five McManus entries.

He faces a field of 21 opponents in one of the most fiercely competitive steeplechases.

The nearest Geraghty has come to Plate glory in the past was Jacksonslady’s third two years ago. She is back for another crack at the race, and with Mark Walsh hoping to successfully step in again.

The McManus team is completed by the talented but enigmatic Colour Squadron who has a first start for Enda Bolger, the sole-cross channel raider It’s A Gimme and Alderwood, who was brought down in the Plate last year when fancied.

Jumping ground

However it’s easy to see why Geraghty has opted for Shanpallas. The seven-year-old eked out enough stamina to win the Munster National last Autumn but this trip looks ideal for him. Decent jumping ground suits too and his last pulled-up effort can be ignored as he was badly hampered.

Alelchi Inois heads five Willie Mullins hopefuls and boasts winning course form over fences as well as a promising warm-up success over hurdles at Cork this month. The assumption the French bred will thrive on a test of stamina may yet prove to be correct but the evidence says his best form over fences is over shorter.

Stamina is no issue to the Irish Grand National runner-up Rule The World, one of four hopefuls for Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud, who, along with Rathlin, could provide Mouse Morris with a popular and emotional win.

The Plate has long been a cherished ambition for Morris trainer whose father, Lord Killanin, was an former chairman of Galway racecourse. It is less than two months since Morris’s own son, Christopher, was tragically killed in an accident in Argentina.

With Gigginstown's number one rider Bryan Cooper injured, O'Leary's former retained jockey, Davy Russell, is reunited with Rule The World.

Russell is another former champion jockey yet to land the Plate. Shanpallas could be the bet to alter things for Geraghty.