Back in April, trainer Jim Bolger shocked the racing world when he pointed out that his star three-year-old New Approach would give the Epsom Derby a miss and would go instead for the Irish Derby at the end of June.

This was almost sacrilege in some quarters and when New Approach finished second in the 2,000 Guineas and then followed up with a similar placing in the Irish Guineas it looked as though Bolger was getting his comeuppance.

However, it all turned out roses for sunny Jim, who decided after all to run New Approach in the Derby and needless to say everything went as it should - New Approach romped home to beat Tartan Bearer and Casual Conquest .

As a result ,New Approach won a lot of respect from those who claim to know what the Classic game is all about.

Now Bolger faces yet another moment of truth when New Approach goes for the Irish Derby as planned and this will be on the back of two Bolger wins at Royal Ascot when he was on the mark with a couple of the best horses at the royal meeting.

Bolger's star appears to be in the ascendancy and it is difficult to overlook the chance of New Approach tomorrow, especially when Bolger has already won the Irish Derby with that shattering display by St Jovite back in 1992.

St Jovite, who had been runner-up in the Epsom Derby, went on to set a course record when scoring at the Curragh.

Bolger is a hard man to fathom and he likes to take on his opponents with a whimsical grin, many times leading them up the wrong path. The English press certainly reacted as Bolger would have expected to the win of New Approach, who wasn't supposed to be in the Epsom Derby until two or three days before the race.

Whether or not he wins tomorrow remains to be seen, but I think he's good enough to do so, although it has to be said that the line-up for the Irish version is stronger than I have seen in recent years.

The man in form Johnny Murtagh, who was top jockey at Royal Ascot, will be riding the Aidan O'Brien colt Alessandro Volta and this one will be attempting to give Murtagh his third Irish Classic after having been successful on the John Oxx pair Sinndar and Alamshar.

Murtagh won the Lingfield Derby trial on Allesandro Volta but then deserted him in favour of King Of Rome and that colt finished 12th of the 16 runners behind New Approach.

Explaining his decision, Murtagh said: "I thought that Alessandro Volta ran very well to finish sixth in the derby and I think the Curragh track will suit him better than Epsom did."

Casual Conquest, who was third at Epsom for Dermot Weld, won't be far away, although Weld's horses appear to be out of form when it comes to the big occasion, while Centennial, who is trained by John Gosden and will be ridden by Seb Sanders, would be an appropriate winner for the latter who appears to have lost the favour of trainer Luca Cumani after his ride on Curtain Call at Epsom. Fran Berry takes over on the latter.

Sir Michael Stoute obviously thinks highly of Tartan Bearer, as well he should, and that man O'Brien will be hard to beat with the number of runners he has involved.

However, it all looks very much as though Bolger will once again come out on top, and that being the case I give a firm vote to New Approach and Kevin Manning.