Invisible Man hits bookies hard

GALWAY’S INCREASING international appeal proved costly for the bookmakers yesterday evening as the well-backed British raider, Invisible Man, turned the only steeplechase on the card into a procession.

Barry Geraghty did the steering on the 3 to 1 favourite but the French-bred five-year-old, a winner in his native country in 2009, kept his unbeaten record in style for new trainer Ian Williams who is based near Birmingham.

The ex-Tom George-trained horse has been at Williams’s base for only two months but won at Market Rasen in June and was a hugely impressive winner last evening when winning by an easy 11 lengths from the 100 to 1 shot Tory Hill Lad.

The exacta on the Latin Quarter Chase result paid almost 713 to 1 on the Tote.

Invisible Man’s success came seven years after Williams’s only previous visit to Galway paid off too when The Prince won a claimer on the flat under Johnny Murtagh.

“There’s no point coming here unless you’ve got the right horse and I was worried today about the ground, or whether the track might be too sharp for him; everything really. But he has done it really well,” said Williams.

Five Dream and Grand Slam Hero will fly the British flag in today’s Plate and Williams was inclined to play down any disappointment there might have been that Invisible Man failed to get into the €200,000 feature.

“What was really important there was the pace which allowed him to gain confidence. And as he gained confidence the more the race was at his mercy. I’m not sure you’d have seen the same horse if he’d run in the Plate because he is only five and is still a novice for the season ahead,” Williams said.

Invisible Man is a brother to Willie Mullins’s Grade One-winning mare J’y Vole and is set to continue his progression up the steeplechase ladder in novice class back in Britain. Yesterday’s success also confirmed his trainer’s versatility. Williams’s previous winner had come at Pontefract on Sunday when Stevie Gee won a six furlong handicap.