Punters piled into Dermot Weld’s Call Vinnie in the concluding bumper on day one of the Galway Festival, but the hotpot was no match for Princely Conn

David Mullins took closer order on Princely Conn (7/1) half a mile out and booted him into the lead over a furlong from home. He stayed on resolutely in holding Call Vinnie the 5/4 favourite by two and three quarter lengths. Old Storm was third at 7/1.

Handler Tom Mullins said: “I thought an awful lot of him. I fancied him in his bumpers and he was never beaten too far, but my horses were wrong and we’ve had a wicked year. I was confident coming here today, he had a good bit of form. He was beating everything at home.

“He could be a real decent horse and he could go all the way. He’ll probably go straight over hurdles unless a winners’ bumper fitted in.”

The hurdle and chase tracks are going to be watered ahead of racing tomorrow.

Today’s crowd figure was 18,938, a rise of 1,149 on this day last year (17,789).

The Tote aggregate for 2014 was 738,940, compared with 608,915 euro last year. This works out at a substantial increase of 130,025 euro.

Bookmaker turnover at Galway today was 1,241,019 compared to 1,233,743 on the corresponding day last year. This was an increase of 7,276 euro.

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes