Bolger Leaving A Legacy As A Breeder
BOLGER LEAVING LEGACY AS A BREEDER
By Kelsey Riley
Trainer Jim Bolger has left an indelible mark on the Irish–and indeed, the global–racing world in his nearly 40 years as a racehorse trainer. The equine luminaries to have passed through his hands include the likes of G1 Hong Kong Cup and five-time Group 1 winner Alexander Goldrun (Ire) (Gold Away {Ire}), G1 Investec Derby, G1 Irish Champion S. and G1 Champion S. hero and leading sire New Approach (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), triple Group 1 and dual Classic victress Finsceal Beo (Ire) (Mr. Greeley) and triple Group 1 heroine Lush Lashes (GB) (Galileo {Ire}). Bolger has sent out Group 1 winners in five countries, and his trophy haul includes the hardware of eight Classics, including the 1000 and 2000 Guineas and Derby, the Irish 1000 Guineas and both the Irish Derby and Oaks twice.
In the midst of all this success, however, the majority of the horses trained by the 72-year-old Bolger have been his own homebreds and he has been, somewhat quietly, building a breeding dynasty. What has perhaps been Ireland’s best-kept breeding secret is under wraps no more, however, and Bolger will next week offer his largest-ever draft of eight foals at the Goffs November Foal Sale, as well as 10 mares at that auction house’s Breeding Stock Sale.
Bolger’s Redmondstown Stud experienced its greatest success at a foal sale in 2011 when it sent seven weanlings through the ring at Goffs November, including three from the first crop of Sea the Stars (Ire). That trio realized a combined total of €1.95 million, headed by a colt purchased for an Irish foal record of €850,000 by Sea the Stars’ breeder Sunderland Holdings.
Bolger noted breeding and selling foals from Sea the Stars’ first crop was a “commercial venture, because I felt that they would be very attractive.” Bolger’s foal draft next week will be his largest at the sale since 2011, and the Coolcullen conditioner noted that he needs to sell to make way for some unexpected additions to his training yard.
“I thought for the last few years I had a very tidy operation going, where I was breeding enough for me to train,” Bolger explained. “I had it built up to a capacity where I was getting between 50 and 60 2-year-olds each year. And then Sheikh Mohammed this year very kindly sent me 18 2-year-olds to train that I wasn’t expecting. So I have to reduce numbers a little bit; I’m getting another 20 next year. So to accommodate his I have to sell some of my own.”
He continued, “I don’t want the numbers to get out of hand. That’s the reason I’m selling, apart from the fact that I run a commercial operation anyway; I have to make it pay, I don’t have any other source of income.”
The pages of Bolger’s eight foals, consigned through Redmondstown, speak volumes about the success he has experienced as a breeder, and one ringing endorsement is lot 963, a filly by Intense Focus, a young sire purchased and raced by Bolger out of his homebred mare Night Visit (GB) (Sinndar {Ire}), from whom he bred last year’s G1 Irish Derby winner Trading Leather (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}). Bolger sold Night Visit for €975,000 at Goffs February this year, but continued to reap the benefits of the 10-year-old mare when selling her Teofilo filly for €950,000 at Goffs Orby last month.
That wasn’t the only home run horse for Bolger at Orby, however. Redmondstown sent through that sale’s €1.5 million topper, a Galileo (Ire) colt out of Bolger’s Scribonia (Ire) (Danehill) (click here to hear Bolger speak about the colt after the sale), and the operation will offer a full-brother to the stakes-winning Paene Magnus (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) from the same family as lot 953.
Bolger purchased the future G1 Investec Derby winner New Approach (Ire) for €430,000 at Goffs Orby in 2006, and in-turn bred that sire’s champion juvenile and Classic-winning son Dawn Approach (Ire). Next week he will offer two youngsters closely related to the latter. Lot 893 is a son of New Approach out of Fainne (Ire) (Peintre Celebre), a half-sister to Dawn Approach, and lot 825 is a filly by the same sire out of Wake Me Up (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}), another half-sister to the G1 2000 Guineas winner.
Lot 888 is another by Intense Focus, this time a colt out of a half-sister to Banimpire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), a filly Bolger picked up for €52,000 at Goffs Orby in 2009 and sold two years later for €2.3 million after five group wins, including Royal Ascot’s G2 Ribblesdale S. Lot 942 is the lone member of the consignment by a stallion not bred or trained by Bolger. She is by Lawman (Fr), and is a half-sister to the Group 3-placed Home School (Ire) (Intense Focus).
Bolger explained that in determining which foals he would sell, a large emphasis was placed on physical attributes.
“There’s no point in picking foals according to their pedigrees, because it wouldn’t work like that,” he said. “You have to pick foals that will be attractive at the time of the foal sale, so that they’re mature enough to do themselves justice. I’m not saying that they’re ones I want to get rid of or anything like that, but they were the most forward. Obviously then they have to have some pedigree as well.”
Bolger noted that he will offer a handful as yearlings next year to get his numbers where he wants them.
A History of Success…
Given Bolger’s successful association with Sheikh Mohammed, Godolphin’s show of support is hardly surprising. It all began back in 2007 with a Bolger-bred colt named Teofilo. Crowned Europe’s champion 2-year-old colt on the merit of an unbeaten season culminating with victories over Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) (Danehill) in both the G1 National S. and G1 Dewhurst S., Teofilo failed to return to the races at three, and was retired to Darley’s Kildangan Stud in Ireland for the 2008 breeding season.
By the time Teofilo was covering his first book, Darley had cut another deal with Bolger, this time to buy his exciting colt New Approach, who had followed in Teofilo’s hoofprints to win the National S. and Dewhurst. New Approach spent his 3-year-old campaign in the colors of Sheikh Mohammed’s wife, Princess Haya, and after finishing second to Henrythenavigator (Kingmambo) in both the 2000 Guineas and Irish 2000 Guineas, the chestnut handed Bolger his first Derby score. After finishing third in the G1 Juddmonte International, New Approach rounded out his career with wins in the Irish Champion S. and the British equivalent, and he retired to Darley’s Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket in 2009.
Aside from their similar juvenile records, the most striking similarity between Teofilo and New Approach is their sire, Galileo. Bolger noted that he had flagged Galileo as a future sire prospect after first laying eyes on him at Leopardstown as a 2-year-old.
“I suppose I probably only have a 50% strike rate with the stallions I’ve chosen,” Bolger said. “I happened to be lucky enough to pick Galileo from the word go, and I think I remember using him when [his stud fee] was €37,500. He was a bit of a bargain at that time. I’m a little bit reckless when it comes to breeding mares, because if I think a stallion is going to be a hit, I don’t want one or two. I want a dozen of them. I probably at some stage would have sent 10 or 12 mares to Galileo at that kind of money, and of course that’s how I got Teofilo.”
Click here to hear MV Magnier pay tribute to Bolger’s support of Galileo after buying the €1.5 million colt out of Scribonia at Orby.
Explaining his early attraction to Galileo, who was trained by his former assistant, Ballydoyle master Aidan O’Brien, Bolger said, “He’s a very fine horse and a top racehorse, so it didn’t take much imagination to figure him as a successful sire. I liked him from the first time I saw him at Leopardstown, so I kind of made up my mind after seeing him as a 2-year-old that if ever I got the chance to send a mare to him that’s what I would do. And of course he has a top pedigree as well, and it’s even better since Sea the Stars came along.”
Bolger noted that he retains a handful of seasons each year in Teofilo and New Approach, which he takes advantage of. His faith in his former pupils has resulted in a further two Classic-winning homebreds purchased by Darley–Dawn Approach and Trading Leather.
Dawn Approach made an immediate statement for his sire by becoming New Approach’s first winner, stakes winner and Classic winner. Purchased by Godolphin partway through his unbeaten 2-year-old campaign in 2012, Dawn Approach collected the now-patented Bolger National/Dewhurst double, and added the 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace S. as a sophomore. Meanwhile, from the same foal crop, Trading Leather was taking a little longer to get revved up, but he hit his peak just at the right time, winning last year’s Irish Derby in Bolger’s silks. He was purchased by Godolphin at the end of his 3-year-old career, and since his Classic score he has placed five times in Group 1 company in Britain and Ireland. Trading Leather is now preparing for a tilt at the G1 Japan Cup Nov. 30.
“He’s going very well, I’m very happy with him,” Bolger said of the 4-year-old. “He’ll be going off on Sunday and he’s ready to go.”
Asked if Trading Leather would be joining Dawn Approach, Teofilo and New Approach on the Darley stallion roster next year, Bolger said, “We haven’t discussed beyond the Japan Cup, so we’ll have to see how we get on there and then talk to Sheikh Mohammed and John Ferguson about it at that stage.”
Bolger has bred three of Teofilo’s five Northern Hemisphere Group 1 winners. In addition to Trading Leather, he is responsible for Teofilo’s first-crop Dewhurst-winning son Parish Hall (Ire) and 2012 G1 Criterium International winner Loch Garman (Ire).
Bolger has continued the winning trend with his batch of Darley juveniles this year, the most notable member of the team being Lucida (Ire) (Shamardal), winner of the G2 Rockfel S. and second in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. Another stakes winner amongst the draft is Parish Boy (GB) (New Approach {Ire}), who drew substantial praise from Bolger after clinching the Listed Eyrefield S. Oct. 26 after breaking his maiden at Naas in August. Bolger remarked after that stakes score, “He’s classy and was a horse we were looking forward to before Naas, as he’s the same color as The Tetrarch, who he traces back to. I view him as a Guineas horse and he’ll stay a mile and a half, so he could go the same route as his sire. I’d be encouraged by the way he’s come back from a long layoff and so we may not need to give him a trial ahead of the English or Irish Guineas.”
Bolger Vocal About Young Sire…
Bolger has another horse in his arsenal about which he is highly bullish, and this one’s future lies not on the racetrack, but in the breeding shed at Redmondstown Stud. Bolger purchased Vocalised (Vindication)–a son of Serena’s Tune (Mr. Prospector) and a half-brother to Serena’s Cat (Storm Cat), the dam of graded winners Noble Tune (Unbridled’s Song) and Honor Code (A.P. Indy), and this year’s record-breaking $3 million weanling Tapit filly at Keeneland November–for €560,000 at Keeneland September in 2007 from Hill ‘n’ Dale and trained him to wins in the G3 Greenham S. and G3 Tetrarch S. When it came time to retire Vocalised, however, Bolger noted that he was a hard sell, so he elected to hold onto him for his own use.
“Nobody was beating a path to my door in this part of the world because the Bold Ruler line doesn’t go down well in Europe,” he explained. “I decided to hold onto him and I sent some mares to him.”
That decision paid dividends for Bolger this year when Vocalised’s first 2-year-olds hit the track. Bolger bred three winners by the stallion, headed by G3 Killavullan S. winner Steip Amach (Ire). Vocalised covered 25 mares in 2013 but that figure rocketed to 65 this year, and Bolger noted he could cover around 100 mares in 2015.
“I’ll be sending a lot of mares to him next year,” he said. “Some people who are very serious breeders want to send mares to him next year. I’d say he’ll cover about half of mine and then the same number again from outside, so he’ll probably have up to 100 mares. He’ll have to break the Bold Ruler hoodoo in Europe.”
Vocalised could be set to follow in the hoofprints of another U.S.-bred Bolger stallion in Intense Focus. Bolger purchased that son of Giant’s Causeway for €340,000 at the 2007 Goffs Orby Sale, and Intense Focus went on to become Bolger’s third consecutive Dewhurst winner on the same day New Approach won the Champion S. in 2008. Intense Focus stands at Ballylinch Stud threw G1 Middle Park S. winner Astaire (Ire) in his first crop last year.
Bolger, who grew up on a mixed farm and has a background in show jumping and accountancy, owns about 70 mares, which reside at Redmondstown in Co. Wexford, about 35 miles from his main training base, Glebe House Stables, in Coolcullen, Co. Kilkenny. More recently, Bolger added a training satellite, Beechy Park in Co. Carlow, to his arsenal of properties.
Bolger has been breeding his own runners since he took out his training license in 1976, and he purchased the original Redmondstown property in the early 1990s.
“It was then that I bought the nucleus of the stud, and then I kept adding to it,” he explained. “At that stage there were about 100 acres, and now between Redmondstown and Beechy Park, we have about 700 acres between the two of them.”
In addition to his foal draft, Bolger will offer 10 mares at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale Nov. 21 and 22. Nine of the 10 are in foal to either New Approach, Teofilo, Dawn Approach, Vocalised or Intense Focus. Amongst Redmondstown’s mare consignment are lot 1299, Miss Ekaterina (Ire) (Teofilo), a 5-year-old out of a full-sister to champion 2-year-old filly Bint Allayl (GB) and Group 3 winner and sire Kheleyf, carrying her first foal by Vocalised; lot 1202, the 10-year-old Luminous One (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a daughter of Bolger’s multiple stakes winner Smaoineamh (GB) (Tap On Wood {GB}), the dam of stakes producer Scribonia (Ire) (Danehill), who produced this year’s €1.5 million Goffs Orby topper for Redmondstown, in foal to Teofilo; lot 1069, the 8-year-old Galileo mare Maria Of Venice (Ire), who has produced the stakes-placed Focus On Venice (Ire) (Intense Focus) from two foals of racing age. She is in foal to Fastnet Rock (Aus). Lot 1140, Manayer (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), is in foal to Teofilo and has produced two winners. Manayer is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Alfred Nobel (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), and her second dam is Park Express (GB) (Ahonoora {GB}), the dam of New Approach. It is also the family of G1 Investec Oaks winner Was (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) andher full-sister Al Naamah (Ire), who set a record for a European yearling when selling for 5 million guineas at Tattersalls October in 2013. Lot 1141 is the dual Group 3 winner Maoineach (Congaree), who is offered carrying her fifth foal, by Dawn Approach, and lot 1139 is the 7-year-old Wake Me Up (Ire) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}), a half-sister to Dawn Approach carrying to New Approach.
The majority of these offerings are from families Bolger has developed himself, with the names of his many luminaries sprinkled across the pages. Describing some of his principles for breeding, Bolger said, “What I do is sort of high-wire stuff. Initially I go to the sales and buy a filly. I wouldn’t buy a filly at the sales unless I liked it, and then I’m hoping it can run a bit.”
Bolger noted he is sometimes willing to take a chance on a broodmare even if she lacked racing ability.
“Even if she can’t [run] and I like her enough thinking she might make a broodmare, I’d be happy to keep her,” he said. “That’s more or less what I do. That’s how it started, and then of course once I get into a family I try to build it. I’ve also bought some mares that weren’t successful for other people hoping that a change of scenery might improve the situation. But that can take a few years to do.”
Bolger explained that the decision to cull the mares he is sending to Goffs comes down to maintaining numbers and diversity in his broodmare band.
“Usually the mares we would be selling, we’d already have enough of the pedigree, so we wouldn’t want to be keeping anymore of it,” he said. “As the numbers creep up it’s easy enough to pick the ones to sell. But that’s not to say they wouldn’t be valuable to someone else, who might not have that particular pedigree.”
Regardless of where Bolger’s mares and foals end up after next week’s sale, his careful consideration in building his families means that will likely to be able to watch them prosper for years to come. In the meantime, with the likes of Lucida, Parish Boy and Steip Amach preparing for loftier goals next season, and Trading Leather preparing to jet off to Japan, Bolger has much to look forward to.
“I have a number of very nice colts and fillies and I’m very happy to have them,” he remarked. “They’re by a good spread of stallions from all over the world.”