Susan Magnier’s HENRYTHENAVIGATOR (Kingmambo) was reported to have come out
of Saturday’s Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-G1) with no problems, and his connections are
now pondering a tilt at the June 7 Epsom Derby (Eng-G1). Following his second defeat of
NEW APPROACH (Galileo [Ire]) in Saturday’s Curragh classic, the homebred is under serious
consideration for the 1 1/2-mile Blue Riband.
“He came out of the race fine,
very well, and we’re very happy with him,” said Aidan O’Brien Sunday, before
John Magnier explained that the decision would be made after discussions with
all the key figures.
“Ultimately, it’ll be John Halley, Aidan, Johnny Murtagh
and all the lads who’ll get together and decide,” Magnier told PA Sport.
“They’ll give me their opinions, and we’ll see after that. I don’t decide, but
if you ask me what I’d like to do I’d say that Epsom is where everything is
decided. When the horse was bred, he was bred to go there — he’s by Kingmambo and
out of a Sadler’s Wells mare. We’ve taken horses to Epsom before who shouldn’t
have gone there and they’ve run well, but we’ve also taken horses there who we
thought would run well, and they haven’t.”
Princess Haya of Jordan’s New Approach was given a
clean bill of health by trainer Jim Bolger following his runner-up effort in
the Irish Guineas. Having followed home Henrythenavigator as he had done in the May 3
English Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) at Newmarket, the
chestnut will now be stepped up in trip.
“He was out this morning for a hack
canter; he was fresh and well and was moving well,” Bolger told PA Sport. “We
got away with it yesterday, but I wouldn’t risk him on that ground again. I’m
not sure how much it’s affected my happiness, but it’s not the sort of ground we
should have had on Guineas Day. If we don’t get good ground for the (June 29) Irish Derby
(Ire-G1) then he won’t be turning up.”
The Curragh’s Manager Paul Hensey
reacted to the issue of the firm going which was prevalent over the Guineas
weekend.
“It was a difficult one and, in hindsight, we could have put more water
on on Tuesday,” Hensey explained. “We did water throughout the week, but we
didn’t get the rain the rest of the country got, and what killed us was the
bright and dry weather yesterday. When the wind blows here, it has a hairdryer
effect, and no amount of watering is going to keep that at bay. It was very
quick everywhere on Saturday.”