Pretty little Galway Girl rewards connections in G3

The Steven McRae-trained Galway Girl (Majestic Son) further added to the harness racing legacy of her maternal family becoming the fifth Group Race winner from her dam, Una Bromac (Live Or Die), when taking out tonight’s G3 $40,000 Haras Des Trotteurs Heather Williams Memorial at Addington Raceway.

It was a faultless display from the daughter of Majestic Son, sent to the front upon dispatch by regular pilot Craig Thornley and with the odds on favourite and dual G1 winner Sunny’s Sister going off stride soon after, it was Galway Gal’s race to lose.

I say that because while the enigmatic six-year-old trotting mare has always shown the inherent ability to be winning feature races, by the same token has cost herself as many races as the eight she has now won.

Not tonight however as she led the eleven other trotting mares a merry dance over the 1980m journey, holding far too many guns in the finish to win convincingly by a length and a half at the finish.

“She was always travelling but I was just a bit worried where Sunny’s Sister was, and when I looked up at the big screen I couldn’t quite work out where she was,” said Thornley to Harness Racing Unhinged’s Nigel Armstrong.

“I had a feeling she must have galloped and that was always going to make my life a bit easier. She still did it easy enough, she was dropping a bit in the straight and I had to be careful she didn’t flick into a pace like she can but she actually got to the line quite good,” he said.

Like a lot of good trotting mares, Galway Girl tends to hold her form when the confidence levels are up and she has been faultless in 2024 with her three resuming runs yielding close to $14,000 in stakes with two seconds and a third.

The most recent placings were at Listed level behind the rising star Bet N Win (What The Hill), with last weeks performance for second likely giving both the connections and the mare herself a huge boost of confidence despite meeting a superior talent like Sunny’s Sister. Especially given she too can be equally enigmatic.

“Sunny’s Sister is probably a better horse than her but my girl can stay and aI thought if we got to the front and made it a true staying test and she had a bit of bad luck, we may give her a run for her money,” said Thornley.

“She is always a lovely horse and is good from a stand and goes away from the mobile too. I wasn’t sure how she would go away tonight but she got off the arm quite good which made it a bit easier for me,” he said.

GALWAY GIRL REPLAY

The Group Three success tonight for Steven McCrae was incredibly his first Group race victory since Franco Nelson won the 3YO Sires Stakes Final on Cup Day back in 2012.

Also speaking with Nigel Armstrong in the aftermath of the performance, McRae alluded to the fact that if not for a knack of going rogue at the worst possible moments, it may have been less time between drinks in feature races for the Spreydon Lodge front man.

“She’s never an easy watch, if you’ve seen a few of her races, the last couple of hundred metres she likes to flick into a pace so we have never really been able to driver her out or extend her so its cost her a few good races before so it was good to get one tonight. She deserved one,” said McRae.

“It’s a really good race and the fact it’s a group race for a horse like her who has a bit of breeding, it will help her further down the track. It’s a pity there is not more of them because trotting mares like her that get up the grades can be hard to place.

“I think she will have a spell now because there is not a lot around for her. We will bring her back and give her a shot at some of those big races around Cup Time, she is in that sort of grade now and its where she has to go but I would like to think she might be a broodmare sooner rather than later.

“She is just a lovely horse to do anything with, she doesn’t have a bad bone in her body. Some of those trotting mares can be a bit cranky but she is the complete opposite and a lovely mare to do anything with. Apart from watching her race which is probably the worst part, but everything else about her you couldn’t fault,” he said.

Galway Girl is the first foal bred by Steve Bell and Donna Williamson from Una Bromac, the latter having done the majority of the vet work with the mare whilst in the ownership of trotting stalwart, Trevor Casey.

Casey had bred the the only filly this millenium to win both the Great Northern and New Zealand Trotting Derbies in the same season with the sensational second foal, Escapee (Sundon). The dual G1 winner was NZ 2YO, 3YO and 4YO+ Trotting filly/mare of the Year in succession.

Her career was succeeded by her younger brother, Winterfell (Majestic Son), who was also a winner of the Great Northern Derby before conquering the 2019 Interdominion Trotting Series where he swept all before him winning two heats and the final en route to being named the 2020 NZ Trotter of the Year. His incredible season also saw his dam winning the 2020 NZ Trotting Broodmare of the Year award.

Una Bromac’s 4th foal Needle (Muscle Mass) and 6th foal Caligula (Majestic Son) are both G3 winners in Australia, with Galway Girl’s victory tonight making her the 5th Group Race victor from seven foals of racing age.

Given the Live Or Die mare was a G2 winner herself having won the Lyell Creek Stakes back in 2002, it goes to show the apple never falls to far from the tree, particularly with trotting mares who time and time again are seen to bestow their progeny with motors to match that of their own. You only need to look at the dam of the runner up in tonights feature to see further proof.

Having missed in the four breeding seasons that preceded the presence of Galway Girl, Williamson and Bell have managed to produce a yearling colt by What The Hill via embryo transfer.

You wouldn’t bet against him adding his name to the long list of Group Race winners from his hall of fame worthy dam.

For complete Addington results, click here.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink