Seven days at Galway can be demanding

The end of another Galway! I do hope those of you who travelled had a great week and backed plenty of winners. I had an okay week and because of the soft flat ground I did not run too many horses, but the few we brought to Ballybrit did us proud. We had a very important winner on Wednesday when Invincible Joe won for our Galway client, Steve Harris which gave him his first experience in the winners" enclosure at his local track.Keagan Latham got great praise for his ride and the experts maintained he rode this difficult track like a veteran. I would have to agree, but when he started doing a "Frankie" blowing kisses to the crowd, I thought that was OTT! And he got plenty of stick off the lads at home for that also! But, as he said himself, the atmosphere was electric and he got taken in by it. That"s Galway!Dermot Weld took the place by storm, as usual and good luck to him, but one of his winners, Directa King won the William Hill 55-80 handicap by an apologising 17 lengths off a mark of 72.I think it was an extraordinary performance to get this mark as the horse had already won two of his three races in Germany.I have maidens in my yard that are rated from 75 up to 90 and they are struggling to win and I was bemused that Directa King got in so low for a dual winner. He got a rise of 30 pounds for his efforts and will now be campaigning off 102 in much better company. Dermot continues to be the dominant force at Ballybrit and he had a fantastic week with 10 winners.While we were all enjoying Galway, the uncrowned Kings of Irish racing Aidan O"Brien and Johnny Murtagh were making all the headlines at Goodwood. The Ballydoyle team is just going from strength-to-strength and by the end of the week the trainer had notched up his 17th Group 1 success of the season. For Johnny Murtagh it was his 15th of the season beating his previous best of 12.While there can be no question that Ballydoyle have the best horses and access to the best of everything, it is still a phenomenal achievement to have these horses peaking at the right time so often during the season. The word genius is too often used nowadays, but in my humble opinion this man Aidan O"Brien is one if there was ever one. In fact, in the dictionary under the word "genius" there should be a picture of the man!Henrythenavigator won his fourth Group 1 of the season when he landed the BGC Sussex Stakes. Maybe he didn"t handle Goodwood as well as he could because the runner-up, Ravens Pass, got as close to him as he has all season, but he still won and I believe he is bound for the Breeders Cup Classic at Santa Anita later on this year over 10 furlongs. Ravens Pass deserves a Group 1 success, but if I were the connections I would try to avoid the Ballydoyle horse from now on.Another Ballydoyle horse, which won at Navan earlier this year, Yeats, is definitely the best stayer of my lifetime and his performance to win the Group 2 Goodwood Cup on Thursday was a mere walk in the park. The prospect of him staying in training next season is mouthwatering and that decision will be made later on in the year, the word on the track is that he will.Last Saturday"s Blue Square Nassau Stakes featured Jim Bolger"s filly Lush Lashes which was sent off favourite under Kevin Manning, but the duo endured a nightmare passage during the race and were just denied by the Irish Guineas winner Halfway to Heaven and Johnny Murtagh. It was a case of Johnny having his mount in the right place in a slowly-run race and poor Kevin can only think of what might have been.While watching this unfold, television viewers were treated to another John McCririck rant about the bad ride that Manning had given Lush Lashes.I don"t know about you, but I am fed up with him using incidents like this to make a name for himself. If he knew anything about race riding or, for that matter, race reading then he would know that Kevin Manning could do nothing about the situation and that it was just pure bad luck.When a jockey wins he is the greatest, but when he loses, McCririck wants him shot! Roll on the days when McCririck is a thing of the past and when we won"t have to listen to his pathetic rants anymore! He is passed his sell by date!Racing this week is all over the place. Sligo holds a double meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, Tipperary is also on the agenda on Thursday while Wexford is on Friday, the action is over the jumps at Kilbeggan on Saturday and then it is back to the flat at the Curragh on Sunday.Beat the Rain in the apprentice race on Wednesday at Gowran should run well while Nortburn deserves to get his head in front and could do so at Sligo. Ashka and Grove View Star would have their chances at Sligo on Thursday while I may run Epic Odyssey at Tipperary where, if Des McDonogh"s predictions that his filly La Sylvia could win a listed race are true, then she is chucked in here off a mark of 86!The big races at the Curragh on Sunday are the Patrick P. O"Leary Memorial Phoenix Sprint Stakes (Group 3) over six furlongs. I have Dohasa and Elletelle entered in this and I won"t make my mind up until nearer the time as to which will run, but at the moment I would be edging towards running Dohasa because Elletelle had a hard race last week.The Ballygallon Stud Debutante Stakes (Group 2) for two-year-old fillies over seven furlongs is the main event and although Pasar Silbano is entered, she is doubtful, as I don"t want to run her over further than six furlongs this year. Her next main target is the €100,000 Goffs Sportsman"s Sale race on Sunday, September 28 at the Curragh.Visit the Ger Lyons website: www.gerlyons.ie