Loyal Focus comes home alone

JUST when racegoers might be forgiven for thinking that the Dermot Weld bandwagon at Ballybrit was in danger of finally grinding to a halt, the festival’s most successful trainer ever showed he still has the Midas touch when it comes to peaking his horses for Galway.Though saddling two beaten favourites in the opening three races on last evening’s card, Weld’s festival’s devotees were eventually handsomely rewarded in the featured GPT Amateur Handicap when Loyal Focus routed his rivals in this €100,000 event.With top hurdler Essex attracting most of the market support, the Matthew O’Connor partnered winner was an easy-to-back 12/1 chance for a race which, despite attracting a maximum field of 20 runners, saw very few get into contention. Constantine had set a strong gallop in dashing into a big early lead with only Loyal Focus and Port Jeff coming out of the pack to give chase. The order was to remain the same until coming down the hill the final time when O’Connor and Loyal Focus made their move.Initially, Port Jeff seemed…..