Bolger looking for a knockout punch to end O’Brien’s premier classic monopoly
It is quite surprising to note Bolger has collected Ireland’s premier Classic only once in his long and successful career, through St Jovite in 1992, while his former pupil turned rival O’Brien seeks his fifth in succession and eighth in total.
The formidable Bolger could not resist the temptation of running both horses against five from O’Brien and his stable jockey Kevin Manning has chosen Puncher Clynch, not seen since beating rival and Investec Derby runner-up At First Sight as well as Queen’s Vase scorer Mikhail Glinka in the Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown in April.
Carraiglawn, the mount of David Moran, took smaller races at Navan and the Curragh before this Group One assignment.
“It’s not easy to divide the two of them and Kevin Manning was faced with a difficult decision about which one to ride, but he has made his choice,” said Bolger.
“I did have an alternative option of splitting them up and running one in the Group Three instead, but there’s only one Derby.”
Bolger was asked if he would have preferred Puncher Clynch to have had another race after the Ballysax.
He replied: “Not really. There was nothing else to run him in after the Ballysax – I didn’t want him to go to Epsom, so this was the next race.
“Carraiglawn is quite a useful horse at the moment but longer-term I do think there is further improvement in him. He’s a half-brother to Soldier Of Fortune, who won the Irish Derby, so he’s bred for the distance.
“They are telling me the ground is good to firm at the moment and that’s the way they want to keep it. A little rain before Sunday would change it to good and everybody would be happy.”
Along with Derby runner-up At First Sight, O’Brien runs the Epsom favourite, fourth-placed Jan Vermeer, and fifth home Midas Touch.
With son Joseph on At First Sight and Sean Levey aboard Bright Horizon, jockey bookings suggest Cape Blanco (Johnny Murtagh) and Jan Vermeer (Seamie Heffernan) are the top two.
Cape Blanco disappointed in the French Derby after beating subsequent Epsom hero Workforce in the Dante Stakes at York.
On Cape Blanco, O’Brien said: “The French race was a bit messy but we’re not really sure what happened that day.
“It wasn’t his running and he just wasn’t the horse he was at York. Maybe he just had an off-day, which every horse is entitled to have.
“He hasn’t really done a lot of work as he doesn’t take a lot of work, but everything he’s done we’ve been happy with.”
On Jan Vermeer, O’Brien added: “He ran well at Epsom, but with the benefit of hindsight we might have been better going to France for an easier mile and a quarter rather than the gruelling mile and a half at Epsom.
“He probably didn’t get enough time between his first run at the Curragh and Epsom to make the progress fitness-wise that we would have liked.
“But he seems to have been in good form since and we’ve had a little bit more time between Epsom and the Curragh than we did between the Curragh and Epsom the first time.”
Johnny Murtagh admitted it was a close call choosing Cape Blanco over his Epsom partner Jan Vermeer.
“For some reason (Cape Blanco) didn’t run well in France,” he told At The Races.
“We saw him in a different light in the Dante. He won very well that day and I think we have him back to his best.
“Picking between him and Jan Vermeer was a very tough decision, but I’ve gone with him now and on Sunday we’ll see what happens.”
At First Sight was fourth behind Monterosso in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot last week and the winner, again the mount of Frankie Dettori, was supplemented for 150,000 euros on Tuesday.
“He’s been showing all the right signs since Ascot,” said trainer Mark Johnston.
“It’s a tall order for a horse to climb from handicaps to the Irish Derby in such a short space of time but he looks the part and the way he won at Ascot, the form of that race puts him right there.
“He still showed greenness but he gets better with every run. He really looks the part now.”
Kieren Fallon has been booked to ride Godolphin’s Chabal but trainer Saeed Bin Suroor warned: “Chabal is in good form but we will have to look at the ground for him.
“He showed at York he does not like it when the ground is too fast, so we will have a look at the track before we decide whether to let him run.”
Coordinated Cut was only seventh at Epsom, but trainer Michael Bell feels his colt will prefer the wide expanses of Kildare.
“We deliberately swerved Royal Ascot and have freshened him up for this race and hopefully he will be more effective at the Curragh than he was at Epsom,” said the Newmarket handler.
“The horse seems to be in good form and we are hoping he will be more suited to there, in which case we might be able possibly to reverse the form with Jan Vermeer which will then put us in the mix.”
