New Approach, a chestnut colt with a white star and snip was bred by the Lodge Park Stud in County Kilkenny, Ireland from the second crop of the 2002 Derby winner Galileo.

He made all the running and moved clear in the closing stages to win "comfortably",[7] defeating the future Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère winner Rio de la Plata in a race which brought together the top three horses in the ante-post betting for the 2008 2,000 Guineas.

[12] Three weeks later, in the Irish 2,000 Guineas Henrythenavigator again defeated New Approach, this time by one and three-quarter lengths,[13] with the Bolger colt hanging in the closing stages and apparently unsuited by the fast ground.

Halfway down the straight he seemed to be boxed in and unable to challenge, but a gap appeared on the rail, and he was driven to take the lead a furlong out, staying on to beat Tartan Bearer by half a length.

[16] Although the winner's performance was praised, his reception was "muted"[17] and Jim Bolger defended the late change of plan in a "heated" post-race press conference.

The race also attracted the leading older horse Duke of Marmalade who had won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot, and the meeting of the two champions was much anticipated by the press as a "clash of the titans".

[22] The form of the race was not particularly strong, with the half-length runner-up Traffic Guard having an official rating of only 110, but New Approach's connections were satisfied, with Manning commenting "he had bundles in the tank".

[25] At the end of his 2007 season New Approach was the highest rated two-year-old colt in Europe[26] and won the Cartier Racing Award for Champion Two-Year Old.