GALWAY FESTIVAL DAY TWO:RACING'S TACTICAL possibilities are endless but Ask Jack proved by winning yesterday evening's €120,000 Topaz Mile EBF Handicap at Galway that sometimes just going straight to the front and staying there is all there is to it.

Of course the staying there is the tricky bit and there were plenty in the intensely competitive 18-strong field that were happy to bide their time in the belief that Ask Jack and jockey Chris Hayes would eventually come back to them.

However, when Hayes asked for maximum effort coming out of the dip, the Joe Murphy-trained six-year-old powered clear and had two and a half lengths in hand of the 25 to 1 outsider Mid Mon Lady at the line.

There were any number of hard luck stories in behind with the 4 to 1 favourite, Mujaazef, badly hampered soon after the start and Worldly Wise enduring a nightmare passage before running on strongly to be third.

That was of little interest to Hayes, the 22-year-old former triple champion apprentice who also won the day two festival feature in 2008 on Celtic Dane.

“We had a good draw and my plan was to be handy. But I could see they were going to bunch up so I decided to send him on. He gave a bit of heave in the dip but once he hit the rising ground he took off,” the jockey said.

For Fethard-based trainer Murphy, it brought to fruition a plan hatched at last year’s festival when Ask Jack was short-headed by Fit The Cove in the seven-furlong Premier Handicap which could be the horse’s target again this Saturday.

“If he pulls out okay, he’ll run on Saturday,” said Murphy who tasted big race success in a different code back in 1982 with Felicity’s Pet’s Thyestes Chase victory.

More recently he has competed at the top level with the 2007 Group Three winner Ardbrae Lady, who also managed to finish runner-up to Nightime in the Irish 1,000 Guineas while Rose Hip has also been a consistent performer.

“Rose Hip ran in this race last year (seventh) from a bad draw and you have to have a good draw here. This is a race I’ve always wanted to win and this is a very genuine horse,” Murphy added.

Galway success is almost a given for Dermot Weld and while the festival’s dominant trainer brought his tally for the week to six with a 306 to 1 four-timer, the evening will probably stick longer in the memory of his apprentice Leigh Roche who secured a 12 to 1 victory on the topweight Easy Mate in the two-mile handicap.

Roche is from Abbeyknockmoy near Tuam and returned to a loud reception after overhauling the pace-forcing Don Leone. The jockey, however, got a one-day ban for careless riding after the line.

“I’m very pleased for the boy who rode here last year and has strengthened up well. She had 10st and I had to claim off her,” said Weld whose own long-term memories of last night’s action could centre on Zaminast’s winning debut in the fillies maiden.

Famous Name’s half-sister looked long odds to take a hand in the finish as she was well behind when the outsider Ballybacka Lady kicked for home around the turn. However, Zaminast overcame greenness to power up the hill and ultimately win cosily by half a length. “She could potentially be very good and I’d like to run her once more this season in either the Moyglare or the CL Weld Park Stakes,” said Weld of the filly owned by Juddmonte who also owned the final winner of the night, Parlour.

Robbie McNamara did the steering on Universal Truth in the maiden hurdle as the Weld runner held off his market rival Drumfire by half a length, leaving Weld to say: “Jumping won it for him. He is still immature and we’ll go quietly with him. But he could make into a Cheltenham novice.”

Miss Eze squeezed through a gap on the inner under Michael Hussey to nail He’s Got Rhythm in the shadow of the post in the seven-furlong handicap.

THE FIGURES

FOR the second evening running, the Galway attendance was up with last night’s 17,860 crowd up over 2,000 on last year. And there was a rare betting fillip too as the bookmaker tally of €1,850,346 was up €192,098 (11 per cent) on last year. A carryover helped the Jackpot pool reach €194,529 and 10 winners each took home €10,421. On the back of that, the Tote tally hit €967,172 compared to last year’s €812,104.