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If anyone is interested, although whatever is said I have a feeling views are so entrenched it will make little difference, here is what Jim Bolger said after the Derby
“Well, after the press conference for the (Irish) 2,000 Guinea when I stated that Epsom was not on his agenda you know what happened with regard to his races from there.
“I felt all along that if we were to try and win two Guineas with him that it wouldn’t be possible to take in the Epsom Derby. So, not to build up anybody’s hope at that stage, I was happy to say that we would not be coming to Epsom because I felt having two Guineas runs and only two weeks between the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Derby that it just wouldn’t be possible.
“Anyway, moving in a little bit from there, when the cancellation stage (May 23rd) came up. I had four or five horses on the list to take out and to this day I don’t know why I didn’t take out New Approach. It was a genuine mistake. It was an embarrassment to me at the time. I just didn’t think that there was any chance that he would be running here. He was still in the list.
“Move on three days after the Irish 2,000 Guineas, he hadn’t lost any weight, not even half a kilo. He was exactly the same weight two days after the Curragh as he was before the race. He was bucking and squealing by Wednesday and, at that stage, I thought about it for a few days because, in fairness to everyone involved, the owners of the horse and John Ferguson here on my left, I had to b esure of my ground before I made contact with John on the Sunday to see if they were in agreement with me running the horse.
“I said to Jackie (Bolger’s wife) after I spoke to John Ferguson, I don’t think this will be happening. I was thrilled to get the call back from John to tell me if I was happy with the horse, the horse should run.”[/color:z2g5njb4]
Whatever circumstances are behind the horse turning up today, we have all had our say on that but I don’t think what has happened should overshadow a clearly excellent training performance from Bolger.
Here Here David……the Media had a field day with this, those who thought they could steal a few quid by laying a non runner will be fuming. The media have no interest in racing they olny care about selling their own product and couldn’t care less who they offend.
I feel sorry for anyone who backed the 2nd antepost but that’s racing.
Great Derby, Great Horse, excellent job by both Trainer and Jockey.
I am not going to become embroiled in the rights and wrongs of what happened.
As David said the result was a good training feat and it would be churlish to take it away from the trainer.
For those fed up with the saga I have some bad news – you haven’t heard the last of this.
To say the press conference was feisty would be an understatement this has a few more miles to run yet.
It is also interesting that as well as complaining punters, some of the most vociferous complaints about this saga have come from the bookmakers reps – how often do we hear both sides agreeing?
Well done to Jim Bolger on training the Derby winner. He has probably lost more as a result of selling a Derby winner prematurely (although the contract may have had conditions attached to take all eventualities into consideration). I’ve made my views on the other aspect of the saga on the other thread and they don’t change. But congrats to connections of the horse.
As a racing fan it was really good to see New Approach do that today. The great race was graced by a very good winner. Great ride by Kevin Manning, great training performance by Jim Bolger.
I’ve also had my say on the rest of it, lets hope for the good of the sport going forward a lesson or two has been learnt.
Hats off to Bolger, a fantastic training performance, and a super ride by Manning, I think we have a fairly decent crop of three year old colts this season.
JohnJ.
Bit sad to hear him booed at the presentation, for all that i agree that his handling of the whole affair was poor. Must be some horse to win as he did without settling for a good 2 furlongs- wouldn’t bet on anything behind him reversing the form.
As a racing fan it was really good to see New Approach do that today. The great race was graced by a very good winner.
Had Bolger’s limited skills in the media relations department not resulted in near-universal wrath from the punting public would New Approach have drifted to 7/1 and returned an SP of 5/1?
I didn’t study the race, didn’t have a bet, nor am I up to speed with Flat form so have no idea if the above odds represent ‘value’ but I’d be confident they were longer than they would have been had punters not fumed at the trainer’s antics and concentrated solely on what the horse had actually achieved on the track.
As ever in these sort of situations those who let head rule heart and did back New Approach should blow a kiss to ‘the crowd’
have been trying to think of similar cases of trainers making mistakes when entering horses for big races but still running them, and the only one that springs to mind is Norton’s Coin’s Gold Cup when he spoilt the party for all us Dessie fans; not the most popular Cheltenham winner I would imagine…..
It is also interesting that as well as complaining punters, some of the most vociferous complaints about this saga have come from the bookmakers reps –
And they are surely in a position to question moral integrity?
SHL
Bit sad to hear him booed at the presentation
I disagree. Booing is a perfectly acceptable way of showing disapproval and his conduct merited it. Had I been there, I would have applauded the horse, the owner and the jockey but I would willingly have joined in with the booing of the trainer.
To be honest I’m bored by the whole thing… and I haven’t even been paying attention properly; just skimming over all of the articles and hearing the faint background hum.
So I don’t know my facts. But isn’t it possible that Bolger may have been too open? Informing the media of every fleeting, contradictory thought that he’d had about the horse’s participation; whereas, say, if he’d just refused to talk to anyone from the beginning (so been un-coperative) we would have been spared this circle of doubt and self-deception?
Or is he just a scoundrel?
As I’ve said on another thread, the best horse won the Derby so overall racing is the winner, although I concede that it’s public image may be a slightly different matter.
The whole Big Brown incident this evening, and the American pundits’ shallow conclusion of "this is how hard it is to win a Triple Crown" only highlight the horse’s toughness and the trainers’ skill in the case of New Approach- placed in 3 classics in the space of 5 weeks, winning arguably the only one which suited. Jim Bolger’s earlier attitudes are a regrettable reminder of the lack of transparency and openness that racing peole think they can get away with, but I think the horse has got him out of trouble so to speak and hopefully this week will be remembered for the classy colt rather than his apparently conceited handler.
Lessons of course should be learned, but it’s almost certainly a vain hope that they will be.
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