Lynch joins Galway injury list

THE perils of the racing game for national hunt jockeys are all too apparent this week for Meath riders Paul Carberry and Andrew Lynch as they miss the week-long Galway Festival meeting. Trainer Noel Meade is without the services of the brilliant Carberry who was stood down for the mandatory 21 days after suffering severe concussion in a nasty first fence fall when riding Tony Martin"s She"s Supersonic in a handicap chase at Killarney on 15th July. The unfortunate Lynch joined Carberry on the sidelines following a fall in the maiden hurdle at Ballinrobe last Tuesday. Lynch"s mount Passcini fell, bringing down the Davy Russell-ridden Always Fruitful in the process. Lynch was hospitalised in Galway with a badly fractured jaw, a broken nose and a fractured arm and is expected to be out of action for about two months. He must be cursing his luck because he had only returned to action a couple of weeks earlier following a spell of inactivity due to a broken arm and now faces another lengthy spell out of the saddle. The news wasn"t good for Russell either as he also misses the Galway meeting after sustaining another fracture to his troublesome right wrist. He is likely to be sidelined for up to six weeks. The marathon meeting got under way on Monday and continues until next Sunday, with Wednesday"s Galway Plate and Thursday"s Galway Hurdle the feature events. Tony Martin has a genuine prospect for Plate success in the shape of Green Mile which ran very creditably over hurdles at Galway last year. The six year-old is well handicapped and had an ideal prep run when winning a handicap hurdle at the Killarney Summer Festival in the hands of Robbie Colgan. The Montjeu gelding appears to have plenty of scope for improvement over the larger obstacles and must have a serious chance. As ever, the Plate looks highly competitive and another that stands out is Galway specialist Ansar which has won seven times at Ballybrit, including the Galway Hurdle once and the Plate twice. Dermot Weld has a wonderful record at the track and gave the 12 year-old a couple of runs on the flat to get him ready for the big test. He has seven pounds less to carry than when fourth to Sir Frederick last year and off an improved mark he represents great each way value. The Willie Mullins-trained Irish Invader and English raider Oslot, representing the Paul Nicholls / Ruby Walsh combination, are others that merit serious consideration. Martin also has a strong contender for Thursday"s Galway Hurdle in Northern Alliance which is an improving sort. He caught the eye when winning a big handicap hurdle at Killarney in May and demonstrated his well being when fifth to the useful Jane Austen in a maiden at the same track last time out, beaten less than six lengths. Noel Meade is likely to be represented by Definate Spectacle which ran well behind Larkwing at Tipperary last time out. The Spectrum gelding has had his injury woes, but possesses lots of ability and will be ridden by Niall Madden. Other likely big players in the Hurdle are the Colm Murphy-trained Megan"s Joy, which finished fourth on his first outing in three months in that Tipperary race won by Larkwing, Weld"s duo Bob"s Pride and Majestic Concorde and Pat Fahy"s Meadow Vale which was third in the race won by Jane Austen.