'We like him a lot and he works well' - could Avondale be the one to stop yet another favourite from winning the Galway opener?

This race can often throw up a surprise, with the last four runnings featuring a beaten Willie Mullins-trained favourite.

The favourite this year is again likely to come from the Closutton camp. The four-timer-seeking La Note Verte was particularly impressive at Roscommon last time when she ran out an unchallenged winner of a novice hurdle, with the decent yardstick Fairbanks finishing 12 lengths back in second. Owned by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede, the five-year-old appears to be in top form and relishes summer ground.

Winning on the same Roscommon card was the well-bred Vicar Street. The offspring of Galileo and Vroum Vroum Mag was punted into 4-9 favouritism when he made his debut in a bumper at this festival last year, but he could only manage a distant fourth. He was put away following that disappointment until making a successful hurdling debut by 11 lengths over 2m4½f this month. He continuously jumped to his left on that occasion, which poses a question against better opposition, as does the drop to 2m½f.

Gordon Elliott runs two. Although Emily Love has never finished out of the first three under rules and has won four on the trot, Jack Kennedy has opted for the unbeaten Timeless Treaty. He beat Fairbanks by three-quarters of a length on his debut at Down Royal and won by the same distance when beating Sticktotheplan in a Punchestown novice hurdle last time. He appears to just do enough in his races so could have more to come.
Analysis by Denis Harney

What they say

Gordon Elliott, trainer of Timeless Treaty and Emily Love
Timeless Treaty has done absolutely nothing wrong and is two from two. He has a good attitude and seems to be progressing nicely. Emily Love has been in cracking form all summer. She just keeps on getting better and last time at Killarney was a career best from her. This is a hot race but she never seems to run a bad race.

Barry Connell, trainer of Avondale
We like him a lot and he works well so he should be very competitive. We had him as a yearling so he's not your typical recycled Flat horse. He made a few mistakes when he won at Bellewstown but there's plenty of improvement to come and he's won around Galway on the Flat, which is very important.

Willie Mullins, trainer of Sysko, Vicar Street and La Note Verte
La Note Verte was very sharp and jumped fantastically when winning at Roscommon. This is obviously a very different track with the undulations but she goes there in great form. Vicar Street's pedigree suggests he will go further and he won over two and a half miles at Roscommon, but I'm hoping his jumping can keep him in this over two miles. He's a nice horse. Sysko is also coming back in trip and hopefully he has a squeak, but it's a hot race for him.

Read more Raceday Intel on the Galway festival:

6.40 Galway: Mississippi River out to defy the stats to give Aidan O'Brien his first win in the Tuesday showpiece 

'We've had this race in mind for ages' - dual Galway festival winner bids for more Ballybrit brilliance 

Galway specialists to keep onside this week: four horses who will relish their Ballybrit assignments 

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