Bolger aims for fourth juvenile success All eyes are likely to be on Alertness in the opening race of the Flat turf season at the Curragh on Sunday as trainer Jim Bolger looks to claim the Tally Ho Stud EBF Maiden for the fourth successive year. As it is the first two-year-old race of the campaign, the nine declared runners are likely to be some of the sharper juveniles from their respective yards as they line up over the straight five furlongs. While 2011 winner Whip Rule turned out to be nothing special, in 2012 Bolger unleashed Dawn Approach, who recorded the first of his six wins during an unbeaten campaign that ended with him being crowned champion juvenile. Last year Bolger's Saburo ran out an impressive winner in the colours of Sheikh Mohammed, but has not been seen in competitive action since. This time around stable jockey Kevin Manning gets the leg up on Alertness, a well-bred filly by another of Bolger's former stable stars, Teofilo. The trainer also saddles an apparent second string in Alainn, the mount of Rory Cleary. Paul Deegan is a trainer who does well with two-year-olds and he is represented by Dancing Zafeen. Deegan said: "He goes OK and is a very likeable sort of horse. He should be in the thick of it, hopefully, but you'd have to be afraid of one of Jim's first time out." Charles O'Brien runs Master Planner, and said: "He's a nice horse by Mastercraftsman and I hope he'll run pretty well. I think he'll probably want six furlongs eventually - he's not an out-and-out five-furlong bullet horse - but we'll see how he goes." The formidable combination of Dermot Weld and Pat Smullen team up with Initial. Patrick Prendergast's Bwana, Gerard O'Leary's Primo Uomo, Kevin Prendergast's Beach Belle and Matty Tynan's Coto complete the nine-runner field.
