Christiansted set to give Murphy a Ballybrit first

The annual extravaganza that is the Galway Festival has an air of novelty to it this year what with it being the first seven-day Festival, the opening of the new millennium stand and crucially the introduction of tax-free betting.

The thousands that flocked to Ballybrit in the past made the Galway Festival the bankroll of Irish racing so with the no tax incentive, this year's figures should be stratospheric.

All of which will make absolutely no difference to punters if the flow of money is all one-sided to the bookmakers. At such a competitive meeting, value can be hard to find but maybe Christiansted can be a suitably historic winner of the first day feature, the GPT Handicap.

No British-trained horse has ever won this amateur feature but trainer Ferdy Murphy is coming to the west on something of a mission.

Christiansted, formerly trained here by Jeremy Harley and Joanna Morgan, also figures among the leading hopes for Thursday's big hurdle and there is a £20,000 bonus for completing a double last done by Athy Spirit in 1990.

Christiansted's hurdles form in Britain has been impressive, and crucially progressive, while he is also a flat winner and ran a blinding fifth from out of the handicap in the Northumberland Plate last time out.

Of the home team, Rathbawn Prince, a fine head second to Khatani at the Curragh, will be one of the leading fancies and Carol Durkan's mount Generosa will be another to contend with on the final climb. However, Christiansted looks a young, progressive horse who could yet be ahead of the handicapper.

The question of value at Galway almost always revolves around Dermot Weld and his superb record here. A total of 114 winners at Ballybrit in the last 10 years speaks for itself.

The downside is that punters blind faith in Weld can often result in his horses starting at unrealistic prices. However, he does look to have prospects of another three successes tonight.

The seven-furlong maiden is a Weld speciality and Huangdi is the stable pick this time. A promising third to Heritage Hall in a six furlong Curragh maiden, Huangdi should relish this stiff seven but the all-conquering Aidan O'Brien has dominated the juvenile scene this year and presents an intriguing newcomer.

Aristotle is by Sadler's Wells out of Flamenco Wave and O'Brien's record means he will probably start favourite. However, Weld more than anyone knows what it takes to win this and his decision to run Huangdi is significant.

Gordi won the Queens Vase three years ago and his appearance in the opening maiden hurdle must be disappointing. His one previous hurdles race, at Leopardstown last Christmas, was uninspiring but Gordi ran a fine third to Maridpour in the Curragh Cup and on this ground should have the latent class to win.