Galway winner for Thornton on final day of festival

Navan jockey Andrew Thornton finished his week in Galway with a winner when he got the John Morrison-trained Much Acclaimed home in front by a neck in a flat handicap home to deny Lovers Peace, which won on the opening night, a second win of the week. Thornton endured a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to injury in the early part of the year and would be better know for riding winners over jumps, but he proved adept on the flat at Ballybrit with a polished performance on the bargian buy for the Waterford trainer. Much Acclaimed won a maiden hurdle at Ballinrobe in the middle of July and also ran in the big amateur race on the opening night of the seven-day festival. Thornton had Much Acclaimed prominent throughout on Sunday and challenged Lovers Peace in the straight. The trainer purchased Much Acclaimed, which won last year on the flat at Ripon, for a paltry €800. Ballivor trainer Joanna Morgan was also on the mark at the final day of Galway when Independent Girl produced a front-running performance to win a handicap for Dunshaughlin apprentice Danny Benson who is with Ger Lyons. Independent Girl also ran on Monday, but could only manage eighth behind Good Shot Noreen. The trainer indicated that Independent Girl could appear again at Leopardstown this Thursday in a 60-90 handicap. Tony Martin saddled his first winner of the week at Galway on Friday when Another Ambition landed a handicap chase for jockey Davy Condon. Noel Meade was on the mark again also when Sea Bass took it up into the straight and held on for Willie Supple in a maiden to deny Dermot Weld's Harangue. However, the 2011 Galway Festival will be remembered as the year Weld broke the records with an amazing 17 winners over the seven days. The turnstiles at Galway were also kept busy with 146,847 patrons clicking through the gates, a drop close to 4,000 on 2010. Betting returns for the Tote and bookmakers also dropped, the Tote was down by 13 per cent to €5,000,000 for the seven days while the bookmakers saw a reduction of around 10 per cent with a total of €11,818,890 wagered in the ring. "We were down under 4,000 on last year's total which is very good considering the current economic climate," commented Galway racecourse manager John Moloney. "We developed a new pedestrian walkway to get people in and out of the centre of the track and that worked well," added Moloney. The next racing at Galway will take place on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd October. Local racing this week will take place at Kilbeggan on Saturday while there will be two days of action at Bellewstown on Wednesday 17th and Thursday 18th August.