New Approach

Jim Bolger has encouraged breeders and racing fans alike to pay a visit to his Classic-winning homebred Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) at the Irish National Stud and promised 'they won't be disappointed' by what they see.  The two-day Irish Stallion Trail kicks off on Friday and Bolger is backing Mac Swiney to go down a bomb. The legendary trainer also revealed that he plans on supporting the Group 1-winning two-year-old and Irish 2,000 Guineas hero with 20 mares in his first season at stud. Bolger said, "He's the...

Jim Bolger has provided the strongest indication yet that the stable jockey vacancy left by his retired son-in-law Kevin Manning at Coolcullen Stables will not be filled by an outside rider and that the legendary trainer will be staying loyal to Rory Cleary and Luke McAteer this season. Cleary has already tasted major success for his long-standing boss when partnering MacSwiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) to lead home a Bolger-trained one-two in the 2021 Irish 2,000 Guineas, outpointing Manning aboard the better-fancied Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}). It was...

Jim Bolger says that his Classic-winning stallion prospect Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) will appeal to just about any stud in the world when he is offered for sale online by Goffs on January 20 but expressed a wish for Irish 2000 Guineas winner to stay in Ireland. The reason being, according to Bolger, is that he'd like to support Mac Swiney with a dozen mares in his debut season at stud. Bolger also revealed that, despite the fact the horse who led home stablemate Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn...

NEWMARKET, UK-Classic contender Gan Teorainn (Ire) (Saxon Warrior {Jpn}) has been described by Clare Manning of Boherguy Stud as the most exciting horse the 29-year-old has ever had the chance to consign ahead of the eagerly-anticipated Sceptre Session at Tattersalls on Tuesday. Trained by her grandad Jim Bolger, Gan Teorainn advertised her Classic credentials when second in the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac at ParisLongchamp in October and can be backed at odds of 25-1 for next year's Oaks.  The Ennistown Stud-owned filly also boasts a rock-solid pedigree to match her...

Jim Bolger has offered up a glowing tribute to multiple Group 1 and Classic-winning stable jockey Kevin Manning, who at the age of 55, announced his retirement from the saddle after riding a winner for his legendary father-in-law at Galway.  Manning joined Bolger in 1978. Together, they won the Derby with New Approach (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), the Irish Derby with Trading Leather (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and came within a whisker of completing the 1,000 Guineas treble with Finsceal Beo (Ire) (Mr Greeley), who went out on her shield at Longchamp...

Two legends of Irish racing will join forces for the first time this season after Jim Bolger revealed that he has a 2-year-old filly by Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) in training with Kevin Prendergast. Bolger gave €31,000 for the recently named Roman Moon (Ire) after Prendergast recommended the filly at the Goffs Orby Sale last September and she is set to break new ground by becoming his first runner with the Friarstown operator. Roman Moon will carry the white and purple colours of Bolger's wife Jackie, once carried to major...

As he prepares his runners for the upcoming flat season, Jim Bolger is also keeping a watchful eye on his breeding stock. The master trainer may be juggling the education of his runners with the oversight of his broodmares and youngstock, but Bolger has proven mighty adept at this kind of multi-tasking in the past: as has been well-documented, Bolger breeds many of his own runners, often going back two or three generations on both the top and bottom of the pedigree. His 2021 G1 2000 Guineas and G1 St...

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...

For any breeder of Thoroughbreds, the opportunity to watch one's carefully cultivated lines thrive across generations must be one of the greatest rewards that can be derived. The team at Darley can take pride, then, in fact that it has three Group 1-winning stallions by its own sires with their first crops to sell at the upcoming foals sales. Masar (Ire) will be remembered as a true game-changer for Godolphin on the racecourse. By emulating his sire New Approach (Ire) in winning the G1 Derby, Masar became the first blue...

By now you've read some of the many excellent remembrances and obituaries of Galileo (Ire), who was euthanized at Coolmore on Saturday at age 23. Any way you look at it, the son of Sadler's Wells was one of the greatest stallions of all time, as were his sire and and grandsire Northern Dancer. This dynastic sequence is now in its fourth generation with Galileo's outstanding son Frankel (GB), who is well on his way to matching the iconic status he achieved on the racetrack as a stallion, and history...

"The lads had him as a king before he came here." So said Aidan O'Brien back in April when reflecting on Galileo's Classic season of 2001. Pedigree and physique were aligned and soon the third 'p', performance, would complete the holy trinity of the Thoroughbred.  Two decades on and Galileo has not only rewritten the record books but, in doing so, has surpassed his own remarkable sire Sadler's Wells, who in turn was the most influential son of Northern Dancer. And much in the way that those names are so...

There are stallions with far bigger reputations who will never achieve what New Approach (Ire) has in his stud career. Yet somehow the horse who was champion 2-year-old, became the first Derby winner for Galileo (Ire), and was the joint-highest rated horse in the world in 2008 remains somewhat under-appreciated. It is all the more remarkable--and disappointing--given the hugely promising start made by New Approach early in his tenure at Dalham Hall Stud.  Sit through any breeze-up sale and you will regularly hear the auctioneer espousing the Royal Ascot potential...