Galileo won a dramatic race for the opening Royal & SunAlliance Novices' Hurdle on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival for local trainer Tom George. The six-year-old Polish import beat Irish raider Over The Bar by three and a half lengths on only his second start over hurdles but the event was marred by the death of Rouble - the second fatality at the three-day meeting following Valiramix yesterday.
There was further drama second time round at the penultimate flight when Keen Leader, who had just taken up the running, took a nasty tumble bringing down Ballyhampshire Boy who in turn brought down Tarxien. That left Over The Bar and the rapidly-improving Galileo at the head of affairs and George's charge galloped up the hill to give jockey Jason Maguire a winning first Festival ride.
"He found it a bit tacky, it's very dead ground and I had to really push him along. I cant believe how much ground he made up. He's a seriously good horse," said Maguire. J P McManus, owner of runner-up Over The Bar, said: "He is a lovely chaser in the making."
Martin Pipe, whose Classified finished fourth, said: "It was a very tough race and he's done well to finish where he did considering he was badly hampered early on."
Filed by Laura Reynolds
