Leopardstown Thursday

I didn't see a replay so maybe I'm talking through my hat, but I felt she was lugging in towards the rails and looking around her when she got to the front (maybe at the stands or maybe waiting for something to come to her). I was expecting a reaction when rip Van Winkle came to her, but there was nothing. Maybe she was feeling the ground, Bolger complained about the disgrace of having no grass cover on a hard track, although he didn't feel it necessary to withdraw Kitty Hawk Miss later in the card.

Rip Van Winkle won well and I wouldn't bet against him being a future star, but for me Cuis Ghaire ran flat. I don't see that Bolger has done anything particularly wrong with the horse but I'll be surprised if she goes on to be a force in the remaining 2yo races with or without an ease in the ground.
 
I have to admit I do not see it myself Mel. I thought she ran a fine race.

As for the Moyglare, maybe this weekend will help sort out the Ballydoyle plans for that event.
 
If Bolger feels his filly has run underpar it must bare question on how good the winner technically is, on face value he is very talented, but if Jim Bolger's filly has not run her race its hard to draw a conclusion. I do think favourite for the Guineas is a tad premature in this instance and would be inclined to still favour preference towards Sayif, Hajoum or Zicanto.
 
Hardly a surprise given his preference for an ease.

O'Brien is sending Rip Van Winkle next for the Futurity...certainly campaigning him like a top horse.
 
Big difference between just not handling the ground and actually coming back sore.

Not sure he really has a big preference for ease, either. He's raced 14 times on Good To Firm and 12 times on Good or softer. He has 5 wins on the former and 4 wins on the latter. 7 of his 10 best RPRs have come on Good To Firm, 3 on Good or softer.
 
Fair point, but the horse has pins in both his front legs. Genuine fast ground at the age of 7 is hardly going to be of help.
 
The last two winners of the Tyros Stakes were New Approach and Teofilo, so it's fair to assume Cuis Ghaire is top of the Bolger 2-y-o charts. On the other hand previous O'Brien winners of this race have turned out to be nothing special, and surely history suggests it's more likely that their main Guineas hope runs at The Curragh on Sunday.
 
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Interesting point Grey; and I'd have thought we should all have learned the danger after the last 2/3 years of going in at this point on a likely Guineas runner. It might not ever get there - and something else is quite likely to come out of the woodwork in the latter part of the season, let alone early next year. I've certainly given up longterm anteposts, you lose more than you make by along way, if my own books are anything to go by!
 
Exactly how has Bolger ruined Cuis Ghaire?

Your post is amongst the most ridiculous, biased post i have seen in a long, long time.

Cuis Ghaire is beaten by a horse who is now favourite for the 2000 Guineas, and this means Bolger has ruined her?!!

I suggest you look for a job with those ugly hacks who berated Bolger in a tasteless manner post-Derby.



Andrew, you are in a high position to become the Maxwell Smart (super agent 86) of this forum.
 
Seeing as she was reported as being struck into I'll withdraw my uncomplementary remarks about her, or at least keep them on hold. I'll be interested to see how she gets on, but if she were to fly in I would be very reluctant to attribute it as a compliment to the form of Rip Van Winkle.
 
I didn't see any signs of her being ungenuine the last day, but I'll probably be opposing Cuis Ghaire tommorrow if she goes odds-on. Kevin Manning certainly didn't miss her when push came to shove in the Albany, and I thought she might just have benefitted from a break after what looked a hard run at Ascot.

She's vulnerable tommorrow against the likes of Rare Ransom and Baliyan IMO.
 
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