‘King of Ballybrit’ Dermot Weld saddles 500th winner at Galway

Long renowned as the ‘King of Ballybrit’, Dermot Weld enjoyed another landmark moment at Galway on Tuesday evening when saddling a 500th career winner at the track.

Keep In Touch won a maiden under jockey Chris Hayes to maintain a resurgence in recent form for the Weld team overall.

In the past Weld was crowned leading trainer at the Galway summer festival on 30 occasions and won races at the course with subsequent Classic stars such as Grey Swallow and Go And Go.

After Keep In Touch, the 13-8 favourite, won by half a length, Weld received a presentation to mark 500 winners.

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“I wasn’t aware of it until they very kindly gave me a presentation. I’m proud of 500 winners in Galway,” Weld said.

“She might have been a trifle unlucky here in July when the problem was she was drawn so wide. She learned from that and the ground is probably as slow as she likes.

“She knew her job, did it well and we’ll look for black-type now. She’s a lovely filly and will appreciate better ground,” he added.

Weld first tasted success at Galway as a 15-year-old rider when partnering Ticonderoga to win the big amateur race at the festival in 1964.