It's the old normal at Galway as Charles Byrnes has the bookies on the run again

The Guinness Galway Hurdle without any Guinness. Ladies day without any ladies. Ballybrit without anybody. Thank heavens for Charles Byrnes who has added some normality to the whole occasion by running a horse who has got first run on the handicapper.

Everything might be right with the world for a few minutes at around a quarter to seven on Thursday evening if Wonder Laish can win the joint-most valuable jumps race of the summer.

It all started in a Windsor maiden under Andrea Atzeni way back in 2014. Slowly into stride, he plugged on into a never-nearer third behind an odds-on son of Mastercraftsman trained by Andrew Balding. It was your typical type of performance from a William Haggas debutant. It was all about the future.

That future, as it turns out, brings him to Ballybrit almost six years later where he is favourite for the Galway Hurdle. The world and its mother seem to think he can win it as his price has plummeted from 10-1 on Friday to half those odds now. In Charles we trust.

Byrnes does not tell his right hand what his left hand is going to do but, if we know Charles like we think we do, then there has been a big circle around July 30, 2020 on his calendar for quite some time.

Would it be foolish to think the plan was hatched after Wonder Laish won a maiden hurdle at Listowel in 2017 at odds-on? Nothing should surprise you with the great man.

What is surprising is finding out Byrnes has never won the Galway Hurdle before, or the Plate for that matter. He is far too shrewd for a stat like that to be following him around the place. Only Wonder Laish can sort it out.

He beat last year’s Galway Hurdle hero Tudor City in a handicap hurdle at Fairyhouse in 2018 and we have only seen him twice since. He fluffed his lines in the Ladbrokes Hurdle last year, though his stablemate Off You Go won that, and returned from over 16 months off the track in the Grimes Hurdle last month.

Traditionally that Tipperary race is the best trial for the Galway Hurdle and trackers crashed up and down the country afterwards as punters frantically tried to add the name of Wonder Laish to theirs. Boy, did he travel through that contest like a good horse.

Robbie Power was on board there and should we read much into the fact that he is on again here? Do not forget he won the race last year on Tudor City and, given it was one of the greatest rides ever witnessed around Galway, surely he could have ridden him again had he wanted to?

Charles Byrnes and Paul Carberry after Solwhit had won the World HurdleCredit: Edward Whitaker

Instead Power has stayed loyal to Wonder Laish. In Charles he trusts.

And, why shouldn’t he? This is the same Charles Byrnes who has won 14 Grade 1 races. This is the same Charles Byrnes who transformed Solwhit from a 127-rated handicapper into a Stayers Hurdle winner who ended his career with a mark of 166.

This is the same Charles Byrnes who trained the best horse Michael O’Leary says Gigginstown have ever had in Weapons Amnesty. This is the same Charles Byrnes who executed the greatest modern-day gamble at Roscommon in 2016 when War Anthem, Mr Smith and Top Of The Town completed a famous treble.

Yes, Byrnes has been terrorising the layers for decades and one wonders whether Wonder Laish will be his latest dagger to their satchels?

The world would feel normal for a while if it was.

Racing Post is the home of Glorious Goodwood Tips and Free Bets