River win is heart-stopping

Galway Festival report and preview: The heavily-backed Cloone River provided his trainer Paul Nolan with a success in yesterday's Guinness Galway Hurdle that looked like a sweet agony.

Rarely can the trainer of any big-race favourite have been put through the emotional wringer that Nolan appeared to endure during Cloone River's passage to victory.

He might have landed the Galway Hurdle with Say Again in 2002 but Cloone River's narrow defeat last year only proved how hard the festival's most valuable race is to win.

And afterwards a decision was taken that resulted in almost unbearable tension for the Enniscorthy trainer.

"We decided he couldn't run again over hurdles if he was to have a realistic chance of winning this year. I didn't want to risk his handicap mark," he said.

Dermot Weld adopted the same policy with Wednesday's Plate winner Ansar but the coincidence was lost on Nolan as he watched John Cullen navigate through the huge field to ultimately beat Gemini Guest by two lengths.

Desperate for some solitude among the hordes of people, Nolan made his way to the last hurdle but then decided to watch the race from the in-field on the big screen.

"I've never been so affected by a race. I just wanted to get away. I thought I was going to have a heart attack because there were pins and needles in my arm. I was worried he hadn't run in a hurdle for so long and I was hoping nothing would happen," he said.

What he saw did nothing for his peace of mind. Trapped on the inside rail, Cullen had nowhere to go when Crimson Flower took a crashing fall at the second flight. Cloone River almost came down as he kicked the stricken Willie Slattery in front of him.

By the time the field had returned to the same flight, the hurdle was dolled off as Slattery received treatment and Cloone River again ran into interference.

With Gemini Guest kicking clear, the game looked up but Cloone River vindicated Nolan's judgment and sprinted clear after the last with his trainer running joyfully after him inside the rail.

Slattery was taken to hospital where he was treated for a suspected broken rib and suspected collapsed lung. "He was fully conscious at the hospital and he will receive extensive X-rays," said the Turf Club medical officer, Dr Walter Halley.

Back in the winner's enclosure there were wild scenes of celebration as Cloone River, who was backed to 7 to 2 from double those odds in the morning, was welcomed back by Gort owner Bernard Gillane.

"I didn't get the best of runs but I was lucky. I travelled well and I knew there wouldn't be a problem setting him alight," reported Cullen who rode Say Again two years ago.

Nolan's state of mind hadn't been helped by the 26mms of rain that fell in the morning and turned the ground "good".

"I was dreading rain because he loves quick ground. It was good to soft last year but it turned out to be gorgeous," said the former Wexford county hurler who will now send Cloone River over fences. "He schools great and if he improves a stone over fences he might be an Arkle horse."

Gemini Guest's trainer Pat Hughes wasted no time in going one better as Jamie Spencer delivered Lily Shing Shang with a challenge that proved too good for the warm favourite Zeroberto in the mile and a half handicap.

"I put up the best man around Galway that I could get. He gave him a great ride," said Hughes, who could run the winner alongside her stable companion Loyal in tomorrow's two mile handicap.

Swordplay made an impressive fencing debut when beating Always under a superb Ruby Walsh ride in the novice chase.

"He's only 12 weeks after a wind operation but he is very quick over the fences," said Denis Cullen, assistant to trainer Michael O'Brien.