Bolger shows his hand on the opening day

Jim Bolger has a powerful classic hand to play this year. And if Dawn Approach, Loch Garman and Co are in the same rude health as their four winning stable companions at the Curragh yesterday, then Europe’s elite better watch out.

A freezing cold, heavy ground opening to the turf campaign might not usually be expected to last for long, but Dawn Approach moved those goalposts last season and there were 25/1 quotes for the 2014 Guineas floating around after Saburo’s victory in the first two-year-old race of the season.

Bolger did not downplay anything either when he said: “Hopefully he will go more or less the same route as Dawn Approach. I knew he probably had enough pace for five furlongs, but I can see him not being short of stamina. I like him and he is a good sort of horse. If you were a punter I’d tell you to follow him until he’s beat.”

Punters adopting a similar policy to the trainer were rewarded in spades as Caesaria rallied to beat Aidan O’Brien’s Master Speaker in the six-furlong maiden and Rehn’s Nest upset the odds-on Yellow Rosebud in the Group Three Park Express Stakes.

Well in command
Yellow Rosebud was in a perfect stalking position in the five-runner event. But even with the aid of the stands rail she couldn't overhual the 9/2 Bolger hope who was well in command at the line.

“She gets through the ground which is a big help. She’s never had faster ground but I don’t think she’s that ground dependent,” said the trainer after his 73/1 treble. “I have her in the Oaks and I think she’ll get a mile and a half. Her dam [Solas Na Greine] is by Galileo and she was one of the first winners for Galileo.”

O’Brien’s Francis Of Assisi was a well-backed favourite for the Madrid Handicap and duly halted the Bolger hot streak with a near four-length defeat of Einstein’s Folly.

“I was afraid when I saw Jim had a runner in it!” said the champion trainer. “But this horse looked to be quite well in . . . you would hope he is better than a handicapper.”

O’Brien’s Piet Mondrian started favourite for the concluding maiden but it was Alpinist who obliged, delivering a Bolger four-timer which paid almost 193/1.