The Derby Approach

There are stallions with far bigger reputations who will never achieve what New Approach (Ire) has in his stud career. Yet somehow the horse who was champion 2-year-old, became the first Derby winner for Galileo (Ire), and was the joint-highest rated horse in the world in 2008 remains somewhat under-appreciated. It is all the more remarkable–and disappointing–given the hugely promising start made by New Approach early in his tenure at Dalham Hall Stud. 

Sit through any breeze-up sale and you will regularly hear the auctioneer espousing the Royal Ascot potential of the 2-year-old in the ring before him. At the Royal Meeting of 2012, New Approach set a new freshman sire benchmark when being represented by three stakes-winning members of his first crop: Dawn Approach (Ire) (G2 Coventry S.), Newfangled (G3 Albany S.) and Tha'Ir (Ire) (Listed Chesham S.). Indeed, Dawn Approach had won his first race before the main breeze-up sales had even been staged that year, and he collected another two wins before his Ascot success. He would remain unbeaten as a juvenile, emulating his sire by gathering the G1 Vincent O'Brien National S. and G1 Darley Dewhurst S. before withdrawing to his winter quarters. 

That early star also became New Approach's first Classic winner, gaining revenge for his father's nose defeat by Henrythenavigator in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket with his own decisive five-length victory on his 3-year-old debut. Come Epsom, Dawn Approach blew any chance he might have had of seeing out the Derby distance by pulling so hard he was almost fly-leaping, but New Approach had other irons in the fire, and a day earlier he had notched a second Classic winner from his debut crop when Talent (GB) won the Oaks. Dawn Approach duly finished last of the 12-runner Derby field, eased down when it was clear his chance had gone, but New Approach's other son in the race, the long-striding Libertarian (GB), flew home from an unpromising position to finish runner-up to Ruler Of The World (Ire), Galileo's second Derby winner.

Bred by the Burns family of Lodge Park Stud, New Approach is of course as much synonymous with Jim Bolger. The trainer had already masterminded the career of his dam, the G1 Irish Champion S winner Park Express (Ire) (Ahonoora {GB}), for Paddy Burns. He also trained her daughters Dazzling Park (Ire) (Warning {GB}), who was runner-up to Daylami (Ire) in the Irish Champion S., and the listed-placed Alluring Park (Ire) (Green Desert), who has gone on to produce the Oaks winner Was (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), as well as her full-brother and last year's Derby third Amhran Na Bhfiann (Ire). 

Park Express's son by Galileo would not, therefore, have been too much of a hard sell to Bolger, who recalls the first time her set eyes on New Approach at Lodge Park Stud.

“He was trotting around with his dam with a bell on her neck because the dam had gone blind,” he says. “And we suspect that's maybe where he got the problem of swinging his head and looking around him. It could have had something to do with that.”

It's rare on these shores to see a horse ponied to the start of a race, as New Approach was for the Guineas and the Derby. The distance of a nose prevented him from being the winner of both of those races, and his imperious track-record-breaking win back at Newmarket for the Champion S. sealed his position on equal footing with Curlin at the head of the world rankings. A certain flightiness was a small price to pay for such obvious talent.

New Approach's stud career has not been plain sailing owing largely to the fact that he is a rig. Despite the fact that logic should dictate that something being in short supply should therefore increase its value, this is frequently not borne out in Thoroughbred sales rings. In New Approach's 12 northern hemisphere stud seasons to date, he has had four crops of foals in three figures, but only just, with the 104 born in his second crop being the largest.

“I suppose a stallion's reputation is very, very hard-earned,” says Bolger. “The ones who are the most attractive are the ones who get the sprinter-milers because that leaves a lot of people happy–it leaves the commercial breeders very happy and it leaves the new owner happy. There are fewer people whose targets are the Classics so there's reduced patronage there then right away as the pool of buyers is smaller.”

As the breeder of Dawn Approach and the 2000 Guineas winners in Britain and Ireland this year, Poetic Flare (Ire) and Mac Swiney (Ire), respectively sons of Dawn Approach and New Approach, Bolger has done more than most to demonstrate that this sireline is far from just a one-dimensional source of later-maturing middle-distance horses. 

“New Approach did get a Coventry winner in his first crop, so that should have helped, but for whatever reason it didn't, and then of course Dawn Approach went on to win the Guineas and the St James's Palace the following year but I don't think that worked any miracles either,” Bolger adds. 

Sam Bullard, Darley's director of stallions, says, “His being a rig, and therefore his limited size of books, is undoubtedly a hindrance, so the commercial aspect is always difficult.

“His fee is listed as private because we would rather have the opportunity to discuss it with breeders, and look at the mare's breeding record, and we can then say 'he's £30,000 but let's look at the best way  to help both sides'.”

Certainly his compromised fertility has not helped his case, but New Approach did get his Derby winner in 2018 when Masar (Ire), inbred to Ahonoora and a certain Urban Sea, gave Sheikh Mohammed a long-awaited success in the Godolphin blue. The following year his grandson Madhmoon (Ire) was second to Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). 

Madhmoon's sire Dawn Approach was not represented by his first Classic winner until this year, following his return to his birthplace of Bolger's Redmondstown Stud after standing seven seasons at Kildangan.

“He will probably cover about 50 mares this year so that could resurrect his career, and Poetic Flare has done much for him as well so hopefully there will be more to come,” says Bolger. 

Meanwhile Masar, who had the speed and precocity to beat subsequent crack sprinter Invincible Army (Ire) on debut over six furlongs in the May of his juvenile season, is now in his second season alongside his sire at Dalham Hall. 

“Masar has everything going for him,” Bullard says. “He sold himself when people came to see him last year because I think they expected him to be a bit of an 'on-the-leg' New Approach, and he's not. And his 2-year-old form actually mattered more, sadly, than some of his middle-distance form.”

He adds, “We stood him at £15,000 because that was a price at which they had to come and look at him. You can't not look at a Derby winner with a pedigree like his. He was full in year one with 140 mares and this year he is nicely through 100 again.”

It falls now to Poetic Flare, Mac Swiney and their creator Jim Bolger to continue to remind his fellow breeders of the potential of this branch of Galileo's ever-expanding sireline. They have a 2000 Guineas apiece, and colts have retired to stud with less impressive credentials than that, but one senses neither they nor their trainer are finished yet. Bolger is now setting his colts on diverging paths following their wafer-thin split when first and second in the Irish 2000 Guineas. We hope to see Poetic Flare at Ascot, aiming to emulate his sire in the St James's Palace S., while the likeably tenacious Mac Swiney will bid to do the same for New Approach at Epsom on Saturday. 

Bolger is upbeat when appraising Mac Swiney's recovery from his exertions on the Curragh just two weeks ahead of the Cazoo Derby. He says, “He's very well and as fresh as paint today so hopefully we will get him there in that form. He doesn't have any more work to do now, he's just exercising.”

Casting his mind back to the Irish 2000 Guineas, he continues, “I wasn't surprised that they were first and second but I wasn't convinced that it would be in that order. It was nice to watch for the last furlong. I did make one mistake because I meant to tell Kevin [Manning] and Rory [Cleary] that there were to be no whips if they had the race won. I had intended telling them and I forgot to do it, but they are both very hardy horses and they are none the worse.”

Bolger adds, “They have never galloped together [at home] but we have always held the two of them in high regard and we knew that there was never very much between them, except that when Poetic Flare eventually blossomed into what he is now he was much more muscled up and he looks stronger than Mac Swiney. But Mac Swiney is deceptive strength-wise. He's compact but he's very strong also, but he doesn't show the same strength as Poetic Flare.”

Epsom's topography presents its own unique challenge, but the trainer feels that it is one Mac Swiney will be able to rise to, even as the ground dries out on the Downs.

“For me he would seem to be the ideal candidate,” says Bolger. “He's a lovely horse with a lovely attitude. I think he'll be fine [at Epsom]. He takes everything in his stride. He's very well balanced and he goes downhill here at home the same as he comes up it.”

A number of trainer/breeders have enhanced the Derby's rich history which is closing in on 250 years. The 1908 victory for the filly Signorinetta (GB) two days before she successfully backed up in the Oaks for the romantically inclined Cavaliere Edoardo Ginistrelli is one such fantastic fable, while Arthur Budgett remains a personal racing hero for his training of the homebred Derby-winning half-brothers Blakeney (GB) and Morston (GB). 

For the depth of his connection to Mac Swiney, who boasts three individual Derby winners in his first three generations and was the first Group 1 winner to be inbred to Galileo, Jim Bolger would surely enter Derby folklore if the son of New Approach out of a mare by another former stable star, Teofilo (Ire), is to secure the third Classic of the season for his team at Coolcullen.

In his 79 years, Bolger has seen enough of the sport's twisting fortunes to not get too carried away by sentiment even as the Derby is now just days away and when he is likely to be represented by two runners as a breeder. The Mark Johnston-trained Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), winner of the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud, is also a Redmondstown Stud graduate.

He does, however, allow himself to appreciate being in what is an unusual position for most breeders by having played as significant a role in the careers of the sires involved as he did for their female families of his proteges.

He says, “To have horses like those two, no matter what they were by, is a great sense of satisfaction, but for them to be by the stallions that we've been so close to down the years adds to that enjoyment.”

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19 Stand Their Ground in G1 Cazoo Derby

There are 19 colts remaining in the 1 1/2-mile G1 Cazoo Derby at Epsom Downs on Saturday, June 5.

Leading the way is current favourite and G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial S. hero Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), one of six for Aidan O'Brien and the various Coolmore partners. Joining the G3 Ballysax S. victor from Ballydoyle are: former race favourite High Definition (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who won the G2 Beresford S. at two and was third in the G2 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Dante S. to Godolphin's Hurricane Lane (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) on May 13; G1 Criterium International winner and G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas runner-up Van Gogh (American Pharoah); and the winners Sir Lamorak (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), The Mediterranean (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

Besides Hurricane Lane, Charlie Appleby and Godolphin have also kept in the group-placed Adayar (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and the G3 Autumn S. winner and G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy S. second One Ruler (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Adayar will be ridden by Oisin Murphy.

“Godolphin and Charlie Appleby have given me the ride,” Murphy told Sky Sports Racing. “I had a sit on him last week. He felt really nice-it was a sensible canter, but he's a gorgeous horse, improving type, bred for the job. I'm super excited to be involved in the race. I'd like to win a Derby-hopefully it's this year.”

Fresh off a win in the G1 Tattersalls Ireland 2000 Guineas, Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), who won the Vertem Futurity Trophy S. at two, will contest the Blue Riband for Jim Bolger. Mark Johnston's G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud scorer Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) is another to take his place in the Epsom showpiece for owner Teme Valley. Ahmad Al Shaikh's Youth Spirit (Ire) (Camelot {GB}), who won the G3 Chester Vase S. on May 5 for Andrew Balding, is also slated to start.

Anamoine Limited's John Leeper (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), a son of 2010 G1 Oaks heroine Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab) and named for trainer Ed Dunlop's father John, also stands his ground. He won the Listed Betway Fairway S. on May 15. Other listed winners set to take part are: Group 3 winner and May 21 Listed Cocked Hat S. victor Lone Eagle (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) for Martyn Meade, Aquis Farm and Ballylinch Stud; Listed Betfair Newmarket S. victor Mohaafeth (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) for the William Haggas/Shadwell axis and Roger Varian and Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum's Third Realm (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who saluted in the Listed Novibet Derby Trial S. on May 8.

Rounding out the field is the winner Southern Lights (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) for Aquis Racing, Al Mamoura Partnership and Joseph O'Brien;  Mojo Star (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) for Richard Hannon and Amo Racing Limited; and Luke Comer's Seattle Sound (Ire) (Australia {GB}).

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The Weekly Wrap: Classics, Classics Everywhere 

It seems harsh, when the British and Irish Classics have so far have been split two apiece between Jim Bolger and Aidan O'Brien, to suggest that this season is all about Bolger. But, let's face it, it is. 

Plenty has been written about Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) and Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and the fact that both sides of their families are very much ingrained in the Bolger breeding and training academy. What is equally admirable, especially in the case of Mac Swiney, is the fact that they are being rigorously campaigned. The trainer has already confirmed that the Irish 2000 Guineas winner is now on course for Epsom in an attempt to emulate both his sire and grandsire in the race that many people still consider to be the greatest of them all. Surprisingly, the master breeder Jim Bolger is not one of them.

Following Poetic Flare's triumph at Newmarket, Bolger declared that he believed the 2000 Guineas to be the most important race. That said, he surely will not mind if Mac Swiney delivers a second Derby victory for him, 13 years after New Approach became the first of six Derby winners for Galileo.

It is worth rewatching Galileo's own Derby triumph 20 years ago to be reminded how the relatively small horse with the massive stride skated round Tattenham Corner and scooted clear in the straight. 

In an interview with TDN earlier this year, Aidan O'Brien reflected on the racing days of Europe's multiple champion sire, who gave him his first Derby victory, recalling how those connected with Galileo at Coolmore had a high opinion of him even as a yearling.

“He didn't walk, he prowled, ” O'Brien said. “His walking stride was so long and there was so much power from his front and back, so I suppose the lads had him as a king before he came here.”

He has more than justified that belief, both on the racecourse and at stud, and Galileo has in no small way played a significant part in the training careers of both Bolger and his protege O'Brien.

The latter has eight of the remaining Derby entries, Bolger has just one, Mac Swiney, the horse who could become the first Derby winner to be inbred to Galileo, through Bolger's two champion juveniles New Approach and Teofilo (Ire). Furthermore, as breeder, Bolger has another roll of the dice via the Mark Johnston-trained Gear Up (Ire), a son of Teofilo. 

For all his success, which includes wins in the G2 Beresford S., G1 Vertem Futurity and now the Irish 2000 Guineas, the mud-loving Mac Swiney has never started favourite and remains perhaps under-rated. Following the coldest, wettest English May in living memory, it would be folly to overlook the neat, tenacious colt at Epsom on the first Saturday of June. Destiny calls.

Gold For Japan In Rome

Chantilly-based Satoshi Kobayashi has had seven winners in France so far this year but it was in Italy on Sunday that he recorded the biggest success of his career to date. The trainer sent the Teruya Yoshida homebred Tokyo Gold (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}) to Capannelle for an easy four-length victory in 138th running of the Derby Italiano, which was downgraded to Group 2 status in 2009.

Tokyo Gold is the first Classic winner for his sire Kendargent, and his third group winner this year after the likeable Skalleti (Fr) and his full-brother Skazino (Fr). The latter claimed his second group victory of the season when winning the G2 Prix Vicomtesse Vigier at ParisLongchamp on Monday.

Now 18, Kendargent is having a fruitful season in France and is numerically the most successful sire with 38 winners as well as the Nicolas Caullery-trained Kennella (Fr), who was third in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches. The Haras de Colleville stallion's reputation is also being enhanced by his son and stablemate Goken (Fr), who was leading first-season sire and leading sire of 2-year-olds in France last year, with 15 winners from just 33 runners, including the group winners Go Athletico (Fr) and Livachope (Fr).

Yoshida, owner of Japan's famous Shadai Farm, has a notably international outlook when it comes to selecting broodmares, and his support extends to to a number of leading French sires, including Le Havre (Ire) who is the sire of the latest foal for Arc winner Dandedream (Ger) (Lomitas {GB}). The 13-year-old mare foaled a filly by the Sumbe stallion last Wednesday in Japan.

Yoshida also bought Le Havre's Classic-winning daughters La Cressonniere (Fr) and Avenir Certain (Fr). The latter has been represented by two winners this season in her two daughters by Deep Impact (Jpn), the G2 Hanshin Himba S winner Dea Ailes (Jpn), and 3-year-old Honneur (Jpn), who are sadly her only offspring as she died after being covered by Deep Impact in 2018. 

La Cressonniere visited Shalaa (Ire) and Golden Horn (GB) in Europe and is now in Japan, where she had a colt last year by Epiphaneia (Jpn) before being covered by his fellow Shadai stallion Lord Kanaloa (Jpn).

Carvalho Has Classic Double In Sight

It has been a successful couple of days for the French-born, German-based trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho, who won Monday's G2 Mehl-Mulhens-Rennen (German 2000 Guineas) with Mythico (Ger), another promising 3-year-old for the recently deceased Adlerflug (Ger).

On Sunday, Carvalho, a former private trainer at Gestut Schlenderhan, saddled Sea Of Sands (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) to win the G3 Derby Trial at Hoppegarten for owner/breeder Gestut Hony-Hof, an operation we will be covering in greater detail in Wednesday's TDN. 

Sea Of Sands represents a family which has had an enormous impact on the German Classics over the last two decades. His grandam Salve Regina (Ger) (Monsun Ger) won the G1 Preis der Diana for Hony-Hof's owner Manfred Hellwig and was second in the G1 Deutsches Derby in 2002, two years after her full-brother Samum (Ger) had won the Derby at Hamburg. In 2005, another full-brother Schiaparelli (Ger) followed suit, and three years later Samum's son Kamsin (Ger) won the Derby en route to becoming German champion 3-year-old. The run continued with the 2014 winner, Sea The Moon (Ger), a son of Sea The Stars and the unraced Sanwa (Ger), another full-sibling to Salve Regina. Now a successful sire in his own right at Lanwades Stud, Sea The Moon is thus very similarly bred to Sea Of Sands, who is now co-favourite for this year's Deutsches Derby on July 4.

Second-Crop Sires To Watch

For the current second-crop sires, what happens this year on the racecourse is arguably so much more important than the results from their first 2-year-old runners. 

Mehmas (Ire), who made a frankly staggering start to his stud career last year with a record 56 winners, looks to be making that important transition with his 3-year-olds and is also compiling an international profile. The Tally-Ho Stud resident has so far had only four runners in America but three of them have won, including the treble Grade III victrix and appropriately named Going Global (Ire), who has now won all four of her American starts. 

The G3 One Thousand Guineas Trial winner Keeper Of Time (Ire) has recently been sold to race in America and will surely add to her good record across the Atlantic, as has been the case for Tetragonal (Ire), a first-time-out winner for Hugo Palmer last year who won for Richard Baltas on Saturday at Santa Anita on the same card as Going Global.

One second-crop European sire we've heard much less about is Protectionist (Ger), but that may soon change. For a start, he is the only one in the table who boasts a strike rate of 11% group winners to runners. The final son of Monsun (Ger) at stud in Germany, Protectionist has large shoes to fill but, from only 18 starters this year, he has been represented by two group winners. The first, Lambo (Ger), won the G3 Bavarian Classic on May 1, beating subsequent G2 Derby Trial winner Sea Of Sands, before finishing third in Monday's G2 Prix Hocquart at ParisLongchamp. 

Protectionist also looks to have a genuine contender for the G1 Preis der Diana on Aug. 1 in Amazing Grace (Ger), winner of Sunday's G2 Diana Trial for owner/breeder Dr Christoph Berglar, who also bred her sire. His son Liban, a winner at Cologne in April, also holds a Derby entry. 

The winner of the G1 Melbourne Cup and G1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, Protectionist, in common with most German sires, has covered relatively small books and had 44 foals in his first crop, followed by 36 in 2019. However, he has the advantage of standing at Gestut Rottgen, which has supported him with members of its own powerful broodmare band, including Wellenspiel (Ger) (Sternkoenig {Ger}), the dam of consecutive Deutsches Derby winners Windstoss (Ger) (Shirocco {Ger}) and Weltstar (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}). Furthermore, Protectionist's owners Australian Bloodstock have not only supported him with mares but have also bought his yearlings in Germany, and Lambo now races in their colours.

Two of Protectionist's offspring, a filly from his first and second crops respectively, have already been exported to Australia and it is fair to expect that more will follow. 

In the meantime, Protectionist is very much a stallion to follow with interest in Europe.

Hello Royal Ascot

It seems as if almost every British race meeting has at least one Amo Racing runner these days, and Kia Joorabchian's operation looks set to be well represented at Royal Ascot.

The latest to have advertised strong claims for a trip to the Berkshire course in mid-June was Monday's impressive Wolverhampton winner Hello You (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who trounced her rivals by six and a half lengths in one of the most impressive juvenile performances of the season to date. Trained by Ralph Beckett, she was a €350,000 purchase by Robson Aguiar at last year's Arqana Select Sale from her breeder Serge Boucheron. 

Hello You's win on debut brought up 18 for the season for Amo Racing, which equalled their tally of winners for the whole of 2020. This followed victories on Saturday for Raadobarg (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), who completed a treble at Haydock, and Beautiful Sunshine (GB) (Ardad {Ire}), who struck for the second time at Sandown on Thursday and is likely to return there this week for the listed National S.

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Mac Swiney Heads to the Derby, Royal Ascot For Poetic Flare

Saturday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas winner Mac Swiney (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) and his stablemate, G1 QIPCO 2000 Guineas scorer Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) are bound for the G1 Cazoo Derby and Royal Ascot's G1 St James's Palace S., respectively, owner/breeder/trainer Jim Bolger revealed on the Luck on Sunday programme.

Bolger told Luck on Sunday of Mac Swiney, “As they say in the west of Ireland, I was mighty impressed with him. I thought that he stuck to the task really well–any horse wishing to take him on and beat him in the future will have to be up for it because he isn't going to give in easily.”

A winner of half of his eight starts, the chestnut won the G2 Futurity S. last August and added the G1 Vertem Futurity Trophy on Oct. 24. He was fourth in his 3-year-old bow behind current Derby favourite Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial S. at Leopardstown on May 9.

“I'm very fortunate that the two talented 3-year-olds colts I have at the moment both have great temperaments and they can take anything that I throw at them.

“They're only different in the amount of work that they take. Mac Swiney takes very little work, whereas the other fella takes an awful lot of work, which is why I felt he would stand up to the three Guineas.”

Added Bolger of his Derby hopeful, “I'm the world's worst punter, so asking me what price he should be wouldn't get a very knowledgeable answer. In my mind there isn't anything ahead of him–the form is there now.”

Poetic Flare, who won the G3 Killavullan S. at Leopardstown at two and took the Listed Ballylinch Stud “Red Rocks” 2000 Guineas Trial S. there on Apr. 11, contested all three Guineas. The bay reported home sixth in the G1 French 2000 Guineas in very soft ground on May 16 prior to his Irish Guineas second. His next target is most likely the St James's Palace S. at Royal Ascot.

Bolger said, “The three Guineas came about the year I had Finsceal Beo. In the end it was a few showers of rain in France that cost us the French Guineas, otherwise we would have had all three.

“We realised this [Poetic Flare] was a very talented horse with a lot of durability about him. He's tough and he could take it.

“Apart from a few things we got wrong in France and then beating him ourselves with a different horse, we could have had the three, so it is possible.

“With a little different circumstance he could be the winner of three Guineas today and that would be fairly unique.

“I said earlier in the week that whatever beat Poetic Flare would win the race. It's not often I'm right, but I was right on that occasion.”

Bolger added, “I'd say there's a good chance that he will [run in the St James's Palace]. It depends how he gets on in the meantime, but I'd say he's more likely to turn up there than not.

“I'd say he'll stay at a mile. The only thing that might cause us to divert from that would be the Eclipse at Sandown, but then I have to keep that in mind for Mac Swiney as well.”

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