JIM Bolger is hoping he can strike while the iron is hot with one of the most in-form fillies in the country when sending Glor Tire to Down Royal for today’s €100,000 BoyleSports Ulster Derby (3.55).
Another win in Northern Ireland’s biggest flat race would crown a golden period for the homebred daughter of Teofilo.
She is seeking a fifth win in the space of her last six starts - all accumulated over the course of a little more than six weeks.
There has been sustained improvement in the battle-hardened three-year-old during her red-hot run.
Having started the campaign with a rating of 76, she is now officially rated 20lb higher and will effectively compete off a mark of 99 in the Down Royal feature due to a 7lb penalty for winning at Gowran on Monday.
This will be her toughest test to date, and the longest trip she has faced, going from an extended nine furlongs to a mile and five furlongs here. Apprentice Gabriella Hill, who recorded her first winner on Glor Tire at Leopardstown earlier this month, is back in the plate to claim 10lb off the top-weight.
“She’s still in very good form,” Bolger told The Irish Field.
“I’m happy that she’s been holding her weight well.
“It’s her first time at this trip. I think she’ll stay but until you try it, you never really know.
“She’s drawn low [in stall two] but it’s a small field so I don’t see that making a huge difference.”
On whether her upturn in form this year has come as a surprise, given she was placed just once in her seven starts at two, Bolger added: “I was a little disappointed with her last year as a two-year-old.
“Initially, before she had run last year, I thought she could make up into this type of filly but for whatever reason she didn’t manage to do it then. Thankfully she’s putting it all together now.”
Bolger has a fine record in the Ulster Derby in the last decade, winning with Wexford Town (2014), Stellar Mass (2016), Clongowes (2017) and Change Of Velocity (2018), while also supplying the third at 16/1 and 18/1 in two other runnings during the same period.