Bolger targetting further Group 1s with Sparan Nua Trainer Jim Bolger reports his unlucky Yorkshire Oaks runner-up Sparan Nua to have suffered a few minor scars but to have come out of Thursday’s race otherwise ok, and is now targetting further top-level races this year. Bought privately by Maurice Regan’s Newtown Anner Stud prior to winning Cork’s Group 3 Munster Oaks in June, the daughter of Dawn Approach stepped into Group 1 company for the first time at York, where she failed by just a short-head to top-class Kalpana . Sparan Nua, under jockey Rossa Ryan, were in pursuit of pacemaking Sugar Island when encountering in-running trouble with three furlongs to race on Thursday, before powering home for an unlucky defeat. Bolger, speaking after his Teofil followed up a Galway festival-bumper success at Killarney, reported “Sparan Nua ran a cracker and she was just unlucky. “She has a few scars on her following the race, but she will be ok. I wouldn't think those will hold her up though and we'll be sticking to the Group 1s from now on."
