Racing Post's Irish team offer their favourite Galway memories

From Mick Winters being held aloft after masterminding back-to-back Galway Hurdles victories to the Dermot Weld-trained Ansar defying logic in recording successive Plates, there have been countless magic moments at the summer festival at Ballybrit. Here, our team of Irish writers recall their individual favourites.

Alan Sweetman

Life Of A Lord: winning at Galway in 1996Credit: Pat Healy

Horse Life Of A Lord

Race 1995 and 1996 Galway Plate

The 1995 Galway Plate provided an early glimpse of Aidan O'Brien's mastery. The nine-year-old Strong Gale gelding Life Of A Lord romped home under Trevor Horgan to win by 20 lengths from Kelly's Pearl, with Loshian third to complete a one-two-three for the then 25-year-old trainer.

That autumn Life Of A Lord landed the Kerry National. The following spring he won the 40th edition of the Whitbread, and in late-July 1996 he returned to Galway, with Charlie Swan aboard, carrying 12 stone in a bid to become the first back-to back Plate winner since the Phonsie O'Brien-trained Ross Sea in 1965.

Swan rode him close to the pace. When Richard Dunwoody sent Bishops Hall, trained by Henry de Bromhead's father Harry, to the front three out, Swan moved to track him on the downhill run to the final two fences in the dip. On the punishing climb from the last, as the pair drew clear of favourite King Wah Glory, the two outstanding jump jockeys of the era fought a pulsating duel before Life Of A Lord prevailed.

Owned by popular County Galway hotelier Michael Clancy and a graduate of Tom Costello's famed nursery in neighbouring County Clare, Life Of A Lord's Plate wins prompted raucous celebrations which stick in the memory to offset the gloom of his fatal injury in the Kerry National won by Bishops Hall in September 1996.

Brian Sheerin

Ansar: makes his challenge on the inner in the 2005 Galway Plate

Horse Ansar

Race 2005 Galway Plate

Ansar had already earned his status as an all-time Galway great before securing back-to-back victories in the Plate back in 2005, but a seven-length thumping of Ursumman off top-weight illustrated the brilliance of the little horse.

In many ways, Ansar defied logic throughout his stellar career. A seven-time winner at the festival, Ansar won twice in the week on two separate occasions, including in 2001 when he followed a successful handicap hurdle debut with Guinness Galway Hurdle glory just four days later.

But it is Ansar's second Galway Plate that will go down as his finest day on a racecourse, and one of Dermot Weld's many masterful achievements.

Produced in excellent shape by Weld, who delivered the then nine-year-old at concert pitch, the diminutive Ansar made light work of topweight and his rivals.

Ridden by Denis O'Regan, who claimed 3lb, Ansar was produced with his challenge on the inner coming down the dip and quickly put daylight between himself and his rivals when meeting the rising ground.

Few horses knew their way around Galway better than Ansar, and the reception he received was one of a genuinely appreciative crowd who knew they'd seen something special.

David Jennings

Rebel Fitz and Davy Russell win the Galway Hurdle for Michael WintersCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Horse Rebel Fitz

Race 2012 Galway Hurdle

This was Galway at its wildest, a proper party. It is why we snub the sun loungers in Benalmadena to stay in Ballybrit year after year. It is for days like this.

Rebel Fitz was trained by the colourful Mick Winters, arguably the most popular trainer of the modern era, and he was hoisted upon shoulders after Davy Russell guided Rebel Fitz to a narrow victory in what was one of the most thrilling runnings of the Guinness Galway Hurdle.

The 2012 edition of Ireland's richest hurdle was also high on quality. Cause Of Causes was second, Captain Cee Bee was third and the likes of Blazing Tempo were well beaten. It was a red-hot handicap won by a top-notch graded performer.

Rebel Fitz was always in the right place at the right time and Russell eased him to the front coming down to the last. There was still drama to come as Russell was more confident than he should have been, easing the 11-2 shot right down approaching the winning post.

Cause Of Causes, who we subsequently discovered was a thorough stayer, was closing with every stride but the line came in time. Only just.

Rebel Fitz won 18 of his 30 outings and was runner-up on eight other occasions. Most would argue his finest hour arrived in the Powers Gold Cup at Fairyhouse over fences, his sole Grade 1 success, but the Galway Hurdle triumph would get my vote. That was a golden Galway moment.

Justin O'Hanlon

Quinze: winning at Galway in 1999Credit: MSI Caroline Norris 50% NO PRIVA

Horse Quinze

Race 1999 Galway Hurdle

The most impressive performance I have witnessed at Galway, and my favourite Ballybrit memory is the victory of Quinze in the 1999 Galway Hurdle.

This horse won 15 times for Pat Hughes, and had already shown his liking for Ballybrit when landing a novice hurdle and a 1m4f flat handicap at the previous two festivals.

He certainly looked up against it with 11-12 on his back when he came to contest the Galway Hurdle in 1999, but under Richard Dunwoody he won in the style of a top-class horse.

Breezing to the front of the 27-runner field early on the final circuit, he quickened clear on the downhill run out of the back straight and barely came off the bridle in winning by 14 lengths. It was a stunning performance.

If this victory was gained in an era other than that of Istabraq, his trainer might well have had Champion Hurdle aspirations for this horse on the back of such a performance, but he went chasing that autumn and acquitted himself well.

Indeed, he went very close to being among the select band of horses to have won the Galway Hurdle and the Galway Plate, finishing a close second to Grimes in the 2001 Plate.

Mark Boylan

Fran Berry celebrates winning the Guinness Race aboard Pop Rock at Galway in 2010Credit: Patrick McCann

Horse Pop Rock

Race 2010 conditions race

While it may be far from the prestige of a Galway Plate or Hurdle, one of the races that triggered my early interest in Ballybrit came in the Friday night finale of 2010 when Japanese import Pop Rock came home a good winner of the 1m6f conditions race.

The fact Pop Rock turned up at Galway was intriguing to these 12-year-old eyes at the time. This was a horse who I had shouted home in the early hours of a November morning in 2006 when a short-head-second in the Melbourne Cup as 5-1 joint-favourite.

On his next start, the son of Helissio managed to get closest to Deep Impact in the Group 1 Arima Kinen and was beaten a head in the following year's Japan Cup.

However, by the spring of 2010, the nine-year-old had lost his way somewhat and connections formed a plan to send him to Curragh-based trainer Takashi Kodama – a Japanese native who had given up training after three seasons in the mid-2000s, struggling to create a thriving business.

Kodama was coaxed back into training by owners willing to support him a few months prior to Galway's seven-day spectacular, and Pop Rock provided him with his first winner since his comeback – a race he later described as "the greatest moment in my life".

Perhaps the most perplexing thing about this success is the fact that a horse who amassed over £2.5 million in prize-money was allowed to be sent off 9-2 to beat an Oliver Brady-trained Limerick bumper winner.

Pop Rock would only run once more, when trailing the Irish St Leger field before retiring to stud, but the memories of his two and a half-length success under Fran Berry have lived long in this memory.

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