Leo De Fury | Horse Racing Free Tips

Despite the retirements of recent stable stalwarts like Group 1-winning juvenile and new Irish National Stud stallion Lucky Vega (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), top-level performer and 2,000,000gns broodmare prospect Cayenne Pepper (Ire) (Australia {GB}), and last September's G1 Matron S. victrix No Speak Alexander (Ire) (Shalaa {Ire}), Jessica Harrington is still loaded for bear at the start of this Flat season.

Speaking confidently from her scenic base in Moone, she went through a list to savour with the regally-bred 3-year-old Discoveries (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), a full-sister to the marvellous Alpha Centauri (Ire) who was triumphant in last September's G1 Moyglare Stud S., heading the list.

“All being well Discoveries will head to the English Guineas. I won't run her unless the ground is fast. Like her sister, she wants fast ground,” said the trainer.

Harrington outlined a series of promising prospects from her stable where quality fillies and mares outnumber their male counterparts two-to-one. Magical Lagoon (Galileo {Ire}), a thrice-raced juvenile who landed a Curragh Group 3 last August, is a half-sister to Novellist (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}, the Japan-based stallion who won Group 1 races in four different European countries.

She said, “Magical Lagoon will go for the Salsabil and has an entry in the English Oaks [as well as the Irish 1,000 Guineas and Irish Oaks]. She did a racecourse gallop the other day and we're very happy with her. She has done well and got very strong over the winter.”

In addition, Harrington spoke highly of Group 3-winning 4-year-old Forbearance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) who “will go in fillies' races from a mile and a quarter to a mile and a half”.

She added, “Forbearance needs the ground quick, quick, quick so she'll likely be making a few journeys to England again.”

The twice-raced Killarney maiden-winning 3-year-old Caroline Herschel (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), named after the famed 18th century German astronomer who discovered several comets, was described as “a stakes filly on soft ground”, while Harrington declared herself “delighted” with the talented 3-year old Villanova Queen (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), who rallied strongly when third in Leopardstown's G3 1,000 Guineas trial last Saturday.

“She's very relaxed,” said the trainer.

The stable's grand servant Barrington Court (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}), a tough and effective dual-purpose mare, returns for her 8-year-old campaign and “will run if ever, ever we get soft ground for her. She's in great order this year and I'm delighted with her also.”

Meanwhile, 4-year-old filly The Blue Brilliant (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) who “ran a blinder” in France last year when beaten by a narrow margin in a Deauville Group 3 is considered an “eight- to 10-furlong type, one mile if the ground is real soft.”

Real Appeal (Ger) (Sidestep {Aus}), a 5-year-old gelding who won the G2 Boomerang Mile last September before taking an unsuccessful crack at the Breeders' Cup Mile, returns for Harrington's longstanding and supportive owner Zhang Yuesheng.

She said, “Real Appeal heads for the Amethyst and hopefully returns to Group 1 races after that.”

Harrington retains excitement for the 6-year-gelding Leo De Fury (Ire) (Australia {GB}). She said of the Group 2 winner, “He is in a good place this year and will go for the Mooresbridge and then the Vintage Crop to see if he stays. I see no reason why he won't.”

The stable's 3-year-old colts and geldings are headed by Confident Star (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and Cowboy Justice (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), with Harrington saying of the former, the winner of a seven-furlong Cork maiden last September, “I think he's a miler and I think he's a stronger horse this year so he'll go to the (Irish 2,000) Guineas Trial.”

Cowboy Justice was gelded after an attack of colic last year and is being aimed at six- and seven-furlong contests.

Harrington is off to a flying start with her 2-year-olds and wins by both the colt Ocean Quest (Ire) (Sioux Nation {Ire}), a first winner for his freshman stallion, and Dundalk winning debutante It's Showtime Baby (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) prove that she has plenty of forward types.

“Training 2-year-olds is tremendously exciting because you just don't know what they are going to turn out like,” she said. “The ones that promise everything could end up doing nothing. You get surprises and you get disappointments and they can't all be good.

“We have a few here by first-season sires and I have to say I love the Saxon Warriors. I think they are very nice. I have four Saxon Warriors and we have two Sioux Nations. Ocean Quest won her maiden and we have a very smart colt by him as well. He's big and square and they all seem to have good temperaments. The Saxon Warriors are really laidback as well. I have a couple of Zoustars as well, and I like them. They look nice and they are sharp.”

In the coming months, Harrington's supporters can look forward to the debut of the colt Saturn (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}, the first foal of Alpha Centauri.

“We are getting a better class of 2-year-old every year,” Harrington said. “We have 75 this year. It's lovely to have some of the pedigrees that we have. You look down through the list and some of them really could be anything. They're not just early pedigrees, and the ones that we have run just came to hand, but they should continue progressing. We have a Kuroshio colt, called Panic Alarm (Ire), Keepingupwithmyempire (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Slick Chick (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}), and they will be the next three to run for us.”

She added, “Alpha Centauri's first foal is called Saturn and he's pretty forward. Alpha Centauri made her debut in May and I don't think this fellow will take very long. It will depend on how he goes in the next couple of weeks. He's very mature in his mind and does everything very easily.”

Stable jockey Shane Foley also spoke of a particular affinity for the Yulong-owned unnamed Dubawi colt out of the Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed Spectre (Fr), a 410,000gns purchase at Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

He said, “I love the Dubawi colt out of Spectre. He could be out in a seven-furlong maiden on Irish Derby weekend and should make up into a lovely middle-distance colt.”

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It has been a strange year and the Covid pandemic has meant that we have had to revolutionise the way we try to keep owners informed. We use a very good system now called Racing Manager and we do a lot of videoing of the horses, talking to their lads, talking to the jockeys. Because people haven't been allowed to come racing we interview the jockeys in the parade ring before racing, take photos of the horses in the parade ring and afterwards and then another video with the jockey's summing up of the race, whether good, bad or indifferent. It's something we have really had to embrace—normally we would ring people but now we have really had to step outside the box and I hope owners have found it useful.

We don't just do the horses, we have been making funny videos around the yard as well and just trying to make it as though the owners were here. Some people haven't been able to see their horses for well over a year or 18 months, so it's very strange. Some people in Ireland have been able to get down to the yard when they can but for the people who are abroad, very few of them have even been able to get into Ireland.

On the Racing Manager the owners also get pedigree updates if anything else in the family has won, which is great as it can be hard to keep track of all of that. I find it a very good platform to keep people informed.

I have a horse for the Irish National Stud, Kojin (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}), which is part of their racing club, and they get great fun out of the app when the videos go up; there are always lots of replies to it and I hope it makes the club members really feel involved, not just in their horse but in every horse in the stable.

We've recently launched a new website and I think it's really important for the fans of racing as well, to see videos of the horses that they've been following on social media or on the website, especially when they haven't been able to go racing.

There's no doubt that Covid has made us look at things in a completely different way.

Roll on the Flat

We're looking forward to the Flat season. We have around 70 2-year-olds coming in and this year for the first year I actually have quite a few more older horses, and that's rather exciting that so many of them have remained in training.

Alpine Star (Ire) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), Cayenne Pepper (Ire) (Australia {GB}), Valeria Messalina (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Silence Please (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) all won either Group or Listed races last year and they have all stayed in training.

Then of the colts and geldings we have the Niarchos Family's Free Solo (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}), who has run very little in his career but he was placed twice in listed races last year and he is now back as a 4-year-old. Then I have the 4-year-old Lobo Rojo (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) for Ballylinch Stud. Leo De Fury (Ire) (Australia {GB}) has also stayed in training. He's now five and was a Group 2 winner last year for Zhang Yuesheng, who has also has the 4-year-old Harpocrates (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) who won up in Dundalk recently. Indigo Balance (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who was second at the Curragh on Sunday, has come back from Australia. I trained him as a 2-year-old and he then went to Peter and Paul Snowden. He returned in the middle of last year but he took a long while to acclimatise so he didn't run last season.

Then there's Njord (Ire) (Roderic O'Connor {Ire}), who who won the big handicap at Ascot on Champions Day, and of the fillies I have Flor De La Luna (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}), who won a maiden in the autumn for her breeder Kirsten Rausing and I think she's a nice filly.

So I have a really good team of older horses, including a new horse who is new to our yard: King Of Comedy (Ire) (Kingman {GB}). It will be interesting to see how he gets on. I'm not sure I'll ever improve on John Gosden but he came to me in the autumn and he is pencilled in for a race on Sunday at Naas, but it will depend on what the ground is like.

The Younger Brigade

Among the 3-year-olds we have the two good Lope De Vega (Ire) colts Lucky Vega (Ire) and Cadillac (Ire). I think they will both go directly to their respective Classic targets: Cadillac will go to the Irish 2000 Guineas and Lucky Vega will go to Newmarket. That's my thinking at the moment but I reserve the right to change my mind!

Then there are quite a few 3-year-old colts who have just had the one or two runs which I think are quite exciting, like Taipan (Fr) (Frankel {GB}), who won on his only start for Fiona Carmichael, Ace Aussie (Ire) (Australia {GB}), Mcpherson (GB) (Golden Horn {GB}) and Hell Bent (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire})—the types that were always going to be 3-year-olds.

We are also lucky to have some nice 3-year-old fillies with Classic entries. Oonadatta (Ire) (Australia {GB}) was very good last year and was placed in the G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes. She and Sacred Rhyme (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), Loch Lein (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), No Speak Alexander (Ire) (Shalaa {Ire}), Golden Lyric (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) and Zaffy's Pride (Ire) (Pride Of Dubai {Aus}) all seem to have done well over the winter. And of corse there are some that didn't run last year who were never going to be 2-year-olds, such as Pappina (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), who has an Irish Oaks entry. I feel I have a really nice balance of horses.

On the 2-year-old front I have some really well-bred horses including the full-sister to Alpha Centauri (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) who is called Discoveries (Ire), and a filly by Sea The Stars (Ire) out of Green Room who probably won't make a 2-year-old but she is a lovely filly and is a half-sister to the Group 1 winners Together Forever (Ire) and Forever Together (Ire). It's really exciting to have a nice bunch of 2-year-olds but we don't know how fast they can go yet.

We also have the full-brother to St Mark's Basilica (Fr) named Paris Lights (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) for his Australian breeder Bob Scarborough who also co-owns Oonadatta. Bob is a fantastic and very enthusiastic owner and we've enjoyed increasing the Australian connections in our yard, which includes OTI Racing and several Australian members of our Alpha Racing syndicate which we are running again this year with eight 2-year-olds.

Syndicates The Way Forward

Alpha Racing was set up by Richie Galway with Patrick Cooper doing the buying and it's in its third year now. The members of the syndicate have had a lot of fun so far, especially with Cadillac, and we're trying to set up some more syndicates on a slightly different level, basically with the aim of trying to get younger and new people into racing.

The It's All About The Girls syndicate is still going strong and they have one 3-year-old and three 2-year-olds to race this year. They've been a very lucky syndicate and have had winners every year and for a small investment. It's been great fun, which is what it's all about.

We are fortunate that the investment in Irish racing from overseas has remained strong even throughout this difficult year, and equally importantly the smaller syndicates are still going. That's the one thing I thought might be affected; I was worried that perhaps people might give up when they couldn't go racing. But thankfully most people are hanging in there and saying 'at least we have the racing'. They are able to watch it and still get great fun out of that, but of course it is nothing like actually being there when your horse runs.

I think this year was the first time in 45 years that I haven't been to Cheltenham, but it is as it is. I just hope that when we all get back out there we will be able to remember the art of socialising.

The post Jessica Harrington: Covid Casts A Different Light On Communication appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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