Ruby Walsh: Jim Bolger sends up distress flare for horse racing

Jim Bolger said he had chosen now to raise the most significant problems horse racing faces because he is back in the limelight. He sure got that part right, but it’s some of the other views I am not sure about

Jim Bolger pictured at home at his Coolcullen Stables in Co Carlow. Picture: Healy Racing

Poetic Flare rattled off the quick Ascot turf on Tuesday in the St James’s Palace Stakes, winning his second Group 1 this season with a spectacular performance.

It was his fifth run of the season, leaving me wondering if Jim Bolger was going back to war too soon with this son of Dawn Approach. He had won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, got caught out in a tactical affair at Longchamp 15 days later and, six days after that, got chinned by stablemate Mac Swiney in a titanic battle at the Curragh.