Beer Garden will contest the 2015 Galleywood Hurdle at Warrnambool this afternoon and trainer Dan O’Sullivan believes that a dry track is key to the chances of the talented hurdler in the $100,000 race.
Beer Garden and Urban Explorer will do battle again in the 2015 Galleywood Hurdle at Warrnambool this afternoon. Photo by: Jenny Barnes
Beer Garden started his winter campaign with a tough win in the QLS Logistics Hurdle (3200m) at Ballarat on March 10 and he scored a dominant victory in the Bill Phillpot Hurdle (3225m) at Warrnambool on March 29 before he finished third in the Somerled Hurdle (3600m) on a wet track at Oakbank on April 6.
The Aristotle gelding returned to winning form with a win in the Jack Dow Memorial Hurdle (3200m) at Ballarat on April 23 and O’Sullivan told RSN that he is happy with the eight-year-old heading into the 2015 Galleywood Hurdle this afternoon.
“He is terrific,” O’Sullivan said.
“We have had a bit of luck with the weather because it hasn’t been too wet and the drier he is the bigger chance he is.
“It has worked out pretty well for us.
“This was the long range plan, Oakbank was our first goal trying to beat the weather and it wasn’t that good for us at Oakbank, but it has been good for us here.
“He has won three hurdles this time in and he has been in great form, so her deserves to have a crack at it.”
Beer Garden has led from start to finish in his three race wins this preparation and is expected to take up the running in the early stages of the Galleywood Hurdle, but O’Sullivan revealed that the gelding does not necessarily need to lead to perform at his best.
O’Sullivan said that he will not be giving jockey Paddy Flood any instructions on how to ride Beer Garden in the Galleywood Hurdle and he is hopeful that the talented jumper will be able to settle into a comfortable rhythm.
“It has just been the way that it has worked out in some of his races,” O’Sullivan said.
“He has fairly good speed and he has a good high cruising speed.
“Some of these races have small fields and you can drag them back, but then the tempo gets very slow.
“You have to build that rhythm, as long as he gets that rhythm right it doesn’t matter if he is forward or back as long as he is in the right comfort zone.”
Beer Garden is currently available at 2015 Galleywood Hurdle odds of $5 with Ladbrokes and is on the third line of betting behind Fieldmaster ($2.60) and Urban Explorer ($3.20).
