O'Brien Goes For Ninth Derby Win With Bolshoi Ballet bloodhorse.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bloodhorse.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
4:00PM, MAY 31 2021
It is a double that has not been completed since the great Grundy in 1975 but Rory Cleary – the man who steered Mac Swiney to Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas glory – has no stamina concerns for Jim Bolger s leading Cazoo Derby hope, paying tribute to the Epsom contender s game attitude.
Bolger came close to pulling off the Curragh-Epsom double in 2008 when New Approach finished second to Henrythenavigator on home soil before providing the Coolcullen trainer with his first win in the Derby, while Dubawi (2005) and Barathea (1993) finished third and fifth at Epsom after striking at the Curragh.
Among others to have attempted the double since Grundy, Secreto (1984) was third in the opening Classic of the Irish calendar before landing the Epsom highlight.
SHARING OPTIONS:
Mac Swiney and Rory Cleary (far side) just hold off Poetic Flare and Kevin Manning to give Jim Bolger a one-two in the Irish 2000 Guineas. \ Healy Racing
It always seemed one of the stranger quirks of the record book that Jim Bolger hadn’t trained an Irish 2,000 Guineas winner but that anomaly was corrected emphatically at the Curragh on Saturday when the Coolcullen trainer sent out a one-two in the colts’ classic.
After Poetic Flare won the British version of this race three weeks ago, the 79-year-old remarked that there was nothing between him and Mac Swiney at home, and not for the first time, he was dead right. Mac Swiney held off his stablemate by a short head, the pair clear of their other rivals, in what was a remarkable training and breeding performance, as Bolger also reared both colts.
Bolger sweet on the Derby claims of Mac Swiney
Sun 23 May 2021
Jim Bolger said on Racing TV on Sunday that he is looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season has in store for
Poetic Flare after the stablemates provided him him with a one-two in Saturday’s Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas.
Having rounded off his juvenile campaign with a Group One success in the Vertem Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, Mac Swiney finished a slightly disappointing fourth on his reappearance in the in Leopardstown’s Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial.
However, he raised his game to land Classic glory at the Curragh – coming out on top after a thrilling duel with Poetic Flare, who was running in his third Guineas in the space of four weeks after triumphing at Newmarket and finishing sixth in France last weekend.