Galway Festival: Galway's big-race injury jinx struck again yesterday as Paddy Flood took advantage of Barry Geraghty's misfortune to record an all-the-way victory in the Guinness Galway Hurdle on Cuan Na Grai.
After Tony McCoy's broken wrist ruled him out of Wednesday's Plate just an hour beforehand, it was Geraghty's bad luck this time to pick up a fractured nose and a fractured jaw in the first race, entailing a trip to Dublin's St James's Hospital.
The pain only increased for the former champion jockey when he heard his intended mount make all the running to provide trainer Paul Nolan with his third Galway Hurdle success in the last five years.
Compared to his famous flapping-arm encouragement to Cloone River's victory two years ago, Nolan was calmness itself yesterday, and it was 20-year-old Flood who looked slightly bemused at having just ridden the biggest winner of his career.
"When I saw Barry wasn't available I went straight to Paul's brother James and asked for the ride," said the jockey.
"I'd ridden some winners for Paul before and the top lads were all booked. I'm very grateful to everyone for giving me the chance. I never saw another horse."
Nolan didn't underestimate the task facing his new and comparatively inexperienced jockey but was suitably impressed with how Flood carried out his instructions.
"Making the pace in a Galway Hurdle is a hard thing to do but he judged it perfectly. It's never nice to see what happened to Barry but Paddy was a very able man to have," said the Co Wexford trainer, who also won with Say Again in 2002.
At the last flight, it briefly looked like the favourite, Shandon Star, was going to throw down a serious challenge, but Flood had enough in reserve to win by four lengths, with The Last Hurrah in third.
The well-fancied Middlemarch finished last after Davy Russell's stirrup leather broke soon after the start, and it was Emmpat who filled out the each-way placings in fourth.
He was ridden by Niall Madden, substituting for David Casey, who broke a collarbone in the race in which Geraghty was injured.
Tony McCoy has had surgery to his broken wrist after his fall on Wednesday, and with Paul Carberry also hurt here on Monday, and the champion flat apprentice Chris Hayes only returning this evening, it's been a hard festival for the jockeys' room.
Pat Fahy was desperately disappointed with what happened to Middlemarch in the big race but enjoyed better luck elsewhere as Arc Lemanique, in the novice hurdle, became the first horse to win twice this week and Dani's Girl beat off the Kieren Fallon-ridden favourite, Anna Karenina, in the fillies handicap.
"It's unfortunate what happened with Middlemarch. He was all right afterwards but I really thought he was my banker here today," said the Athenry-born trainer.
"Still, you can't complain when you have a couple of winners here."
Fallon wasted no time going one better and got Bolodenka, trained in England by Co Louth-born Richard Fahey, to the line in the mile handicap ahead of the favourite, Little Eye.
The jockey received another tumultuous reception and Fahey joked: "It's nice to have him up because you get a reception like you'd have for a Cheltenham winner."
Bolodenka could run again in a seven-furlong handicap here on Sunday, but Gowran next week is the next stop for Galistic, whose defeat of Harcas in the mile-and-a-half handicap resulted in jockey Danny Grant losing his claim.
An Irish national record crowd of 48,120 packed into Ballybrit for yesterday's Guinness Galway Hurdle card. The attendance broke the previous modern-day record for an Irish racecourse, set on the same day last year, by over 1,600.
There was also a national record for bookmaker turnover as the layers handled a mammoth 4,589,657, compared to the previous record, from last year, of €4,293,661. The total included €817,183 on the big race and €717,363 on the seven-furlong handicap, won by Dani's Girl.
The Tote turnover dropped, however. Yesterday's figure of 1,788,246 was down on 2005's 1,926,984.
