Bolger Happy Teofilo Is Going The Right Way

Jim Bolger is cranking up Teofilo´s workload ahead of the Stan James 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 5 as he recovers from a training setback.

The County Carlow handler´s Galileo colt caused shockwaves in the ante-post betting last week as rumours of his well-being prompted his price to fluctuate wildly on the betting exchanges, although he still heads the market with the sponsors at 11-4.

The unbeaten Dewhurst winner has been restricted to walking and swimming during the last seven days, but trotted for the first time this morning.

Bolger said: 'He will canter on Wednesday, work at half-speed on Thursday and then work at the weekend.

'He´ll do some more on Tuesday and then he´ll be on the plane (to Newmarket) later in the week.'

He continued: 'I am very happy with him and things could have not gone better, despite him missing four days earlier in the year due to a stone bruise and then this recent hiccup.

'He has been very fresh at times, but I am totally satisfied with the way he has wintered.

'My only concern is that with a niggly injury it might reoccur or it might be the start of something more serious.'

Reflecting on last Monday, Bolger said: 'He wasn´t quite comfortable after trotting so we decided to go the careful route with him.

'He seems in very good form and is moving well.

'He has been off work for a week, but he has been swimming and took to it well. He was swimming in February too when he had a stone bruise and we knew he would take to it.'

Expanding on the injury, Bolger said: 'I´m not 100% sure what it was, but I think it was an over-extension injury as he seemed sore at the back of his knee. But the soreness went after some time in the spa.'

A crack at the Vodafone Derby will be the next target for Teofilo if all goes well in the Guineas, and Bolger does not envisage the step up from a mile to a mile and a half being a problem.

'I would be amazed if he didn´t get a mile and a half as he has such a relaxed way of racing and his pedigree suggests he will stay,' he said of the horse named after Olympic boxing legend Teofilo Stevenson.

'He has a wonderful turn of foot and despite a middle-distance pedigree he was able to strut his stuff at seven furlongs as a juvenile.

'My one regret is that I didn´t try him at six furlongs last year as he had some of his races won at six furlongs.

'From the work he has done this year, his speed hasn´t diminished and neither has his appetite.'

And a further increase in his racing distance is a possibility, with Bolger eyeing the Ladbrokes St Leger over a mile and three-quarters should the Guineas and Derby go his way.

Nijinsky and Lester Piggott were the last to claim the Triple Crown back in 1970, but Bolger added: 'I am not dictated by fashion.

'It would be a big wrench not to go to Leopardstown for the Champion Stakes, but I would love to give the Triple Crown a go.'

(C) PA Sport