Jim Bolger

Last year's G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) has been turned out since running in the G1 Hong Kong Cup in December and will return to training next week, trainer, owner and breeder Jim Bolger told the TDN. The 4-year-old, who also won the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy and G2 Futurity S. at two, trailed in last of 12 at Sha Tin. "He didn't run well in Hong Kong and we don't know the reason for it," Bolger said. Mac Swiney's four career wins have...

Jockey Kevin Manning suffered a broken collarbone in a fall at Galway on Monday. The 54-year-old rider, whose regular mounts this season have included the Classic-winning Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) and Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) for his father-in-law Jim Bolger, sustained the injury when his mount, Dublin Journal (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), slipped up after a furlong of the Galway Handicap. Dublin Journal also races as a homebred for Bolger and his wife, Jackie. "He's broken his collarbone, but it's a straight-forward break, so it shouldn't be...

Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}--Maria Lee {Ire}, by Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}), the top-rated 3-year-old miler of 2021, has been retired from racing and will stand at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan from next year. Winner of the G1 2000 Guineas and G1 St James's Palace S., the colt has provided his master trainer Jim Bolger with perhaps the pinnacle of his parallel career as a breeder, for he not only bred, owned and trained Poetic Flare's sire and fellow Classic winner Dawn Approach, but he also trained his...

Classic winner Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) will skip an intended start in Sunday's G1 Prix du Moulin and instead line up in the G1 Irish Champion S. at Leopardstown on Sept. 11, trainer Jim Bolger revealed on the Nick Luck Daily Podcast. It will mark the first time the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas and G1 St James's Palace S. hero will try a distance beyond a mile. Since his Royal Ascot win in the St James's Palace S., the Bolger homebred was runner-up in the G1 Qatar Sussex...

At his best when the ground is on the quick side, Jim Bolger's G1 2000 Guineas and G1 St James's Palace S. hero Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) has to deal with a testing surface as he faces up to his first test against the fillies and older horses in Wednesday's G1 Qatar Sussex S. Only sixth on very soft in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains at ParisLongchamp May 16 and a short-head second to Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) on soft-to-heavy in the G1 Irish 2000...

A 2021 Aintree Grand National racecard signed by Rachael Blackmore, yard visits with Johnny Murtagh and Henry de Bromhead, race day experiences at Leopardstown and The Curragh and luxury overnight stays at Lyrath Estate Hotel & Spa and Mount Juliet are among the lots up for auction as part of the Hurling For Cancer Research Online Auction. The auction once again replaces Jim Bolger and Davy Russell's hurling match, which is unable to be staged due to Covid-19. A full list of auction items can be found here, with bidding...

Dual Group 1 winner Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) is giving all the right signals to his trainer Jim Bolger just seven days out from the G1 Qatar Sussex S. on July 28. A winner of the G3 Killavullan S. as a juvenile, the hulking bay returned to take the Listed Ballylinch Stud "Red Rocks" 2000 Guineas Trial S. at Leopardstown on Apr. 11, and battled to a thrilling win in the G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 1. Although unplaced in the French equivalent on May...

Speaking before the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee at the latest of a series of hearings prompted by trainer Jim Bolger's claim that there would be "a Lance Armstrong" in Irish racing, Irish Racehorse Trainers Association Chief Executive Michael Grassick said he has never been "approached or given information that there were illegal substances being used on horses in training." "In my previous life, before I took over the position as CEO of the trainers' association, I was a trainer for 35 years myself and never in my time as a trainer...

The first hearing of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board in front of a Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine began in Ireland on Thursday, with the IHRB defending itself rigorously. The IHRB has come under pressure recently regarding concerns over doping in Irish racing following Irish trainer Jim Bolger's claims in a newspaper interview that there would be a "Lance Armstrong" moment in the Irish industry. Irish Government committee members asked questions of Horse Racing Ireland's Chief Executive Brian Kavanagh, IHRB Chief Executive Denis Egan and IHRB Chief...

Jim Bolger is not expected to attend the parliamentary hearing he was invited to to discuss doping in Irish racing. Bolger made headlines last autumn and again this spring when describing the use of performance-enhancing substances as the "number-one problem" in Irish racing and saying "there will be a Lance Armstrong in Irish racing." Bolger was invited to the agriculture committee hearing alongside representatives of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, Horse Racing Ireland, the Department of Agriculture and the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, but Racing Post reports that a government...

Europe's most famous maiden Mojo Star (Ire) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) will face 10 rivals in Saturday's G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at The Curragh after Thursday's confirmation stage. Amo Racing's G1 Epsom Derby runner-up was supplemented at a cost of €75,000 by Richard Hannon this week and is the foremost representative of the June 5 blue riband, with the third Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and fourth Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) set to re-oppose for Charlie Appleby and Jim Bolger, respectively. Hurricane Lane is in three,...

After he expressed concerns in the press earlier this month about alleged doping practices in Irish racing, this year's G1 2000 Guineas and G1 Irish 2000 Guineas-winning trainer Jim Bolger has been invited before an Irish parliamentary committee on July 6 alongside representatives of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, Horse Racing Ireland, the Department of Agriculture and the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association to discuss the matter. Bolger last autumn described the use of performance-enhancing substances as the "number-one problem" facing Irish racing, and expanded on those claims in a series...