DO you know who won the Group 3 Niigata Nisai Stakes in Japan last weekend? Well, I bet Jim Bolger does. The winner was the two-year-old colt Realize Sirius, and the grey is from the first crop sired by Poetic Flare (Dawn Approach), Bolger’s 2021 winner of the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, and the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

According to the JBIS website, the classic winner has 38 two-year-olds and just 20 yearlings. Poetic Flare’s 10 first crop runners have produced two winners and six placed horses. Bred by Shadai Farm, Realize Sirius is unbeaten in two starts, and is a graduate of the 2024 JRHA Yearling Sale where he sold for the equivalent of about €250,000. Poetic Flare has suffered from dwindling support at stud, but this good start at stud might reignite interest in him.