The first time I met celebrated trainer Jessica Harrington (75) we were both at the wrong door of St George’s Hall in Liverpool trying to get into the Grand National Weights Lunch.
Equally flustered, we were pointed in the direction of the right door, and as we circumnavigated the colossal building to try and make the opening speeches, there was no keeping up with her – she’s as fit as a flea and as fast as one of her horses.
One thing is guaranteed, Harrington won’t be putting her feet up any time soon despite a bit of a shock last place result for talented filly Marie Philippe in the Coolmore NH Sires ‘Santiago’ Irish EBF Mares INH Flat Race at Leopardstown on Sunday.
The Flemensfirth filly was making her bid for blacktype after a successful start for Harrington at Fairyhouse in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Four-Year-Old Fillies INH Flat Race in December last year. It wasn’t Marie Phillipe’s day on Sunday, and Harrington reported afterwards she didn’t scope well.
Jessica is versatile in that her success over jumps can be matched with multiple successes on the biggest stages of the flat racing calendar. \ INPHO/James Crombie
Family
Jessica Harrington Racing is based at Commonstown Stud, Moone, Co Kildare and is on the doorstep of the Curragh Racecourse. The yard is as busy as a train station whenever you visit. The home facility boasts two-hundred stables, three gallops, fences and hurdles.
The business has grown successfully since Jessica took out her training license in 1989 alongside her late husband Johnny Harrington (a respected bloodstock man who sadly died three weeks after Jessica won the Champion Hurdle with Jezki in 2014).
Family is central at Commonstown with Jessica and Johnny’s two daughters Emma and Kate firmly at the helm of the business – Kate working alongside Jessica as assistant trainer and Emma running things behind the scenes.
Harrington started out as an international event rider competing for her country in two Olympic Games before switching to National Hunt and Flat training in 1989. Some people have more than their fair share of talent.
Sizing John
Dual-purpose trainer Harrington says she doesn’t remember learning to ride, horses have just always been there.
She had her first winner in Lady Olein at Leopardstown in 1991 and she is now the most successful female trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, winning the Champion Chase with Moscow Flyer twice (2003, 2005) and the Champion Hurdle with Jezki (2014) then, in her first ever entry, she was triumphant in the biggest prize of them all, the Timico Gold Cup with seven-year-old Sizing John.
Harrington is versatile in that her success over jumps can be matched with multiple successes on the biggest stages of the flat racing calendar. Pathfork won the Group 1 Vincent O’Brien National Stakes in 2010 giving Jessica her first Group 1 winner, and the superstar filly that is Alpha Centauri gave the Harrington team their first Classic and Royal Ascot winner in the 2018 Irish 1,000 Guineas and Group 1 Coronation Stakes.
Gold Cup
Harrington is only the third female trainer to win the Gold Cup alongside racing legends Henrietta Knight (Best Mate 2002-2004) and Jenny Pitman (Burrough Hill Lad 1984, Garrison Savannah 1991).
In discussing being a woman in the racing industry she observes: “When I started training 33 years ago, the owners would rather talk to Johnny than me because men wanted to talk to men, you’re in a completely male dominated industry – it doesn’t worry me now and I don’t even notice it. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all trainers, we’re all doing the same job.”
Penny drops
In discussing her feel for younger horses, Harrington explains that she can’t always know which horses ‘have it’. “It’s very hard to know – the penny drops with some earlier than others and when it has dropped and they’re still no good, well they’re still no good!
"On the flat they are bred to perform early and if they’re not doing it, they’ll probably never do it. With National Hunt, we’re very good at giving a five-year-old another year, because he’s still growing. But you mustn’t kid yourself, you have to get real.
“We’ve a lot of horses that are slower to come, they’re just like a gawky teenagers. I’ve learned to be much more patient than I used to be, give them time.”
With her vast experience in eventing, Harrington brings something to her training programme that differs from other trainers: “I like the horses to go in a nice shape, I like to make sure that they trot well, I like them to be calm and we do a lot of loose-schooling before they ever jump.
"I think they learn to jump better on their own without someone on their back interfering with them, they’ll learn to look after themselves.”
Harrington’s approach has positive repercussions both on and off track. Putting in a solid foundation helps a horse when it comes to its next career too. Harrington is an advocate for off-track racehorses in second careers, and is also patron of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust.
The ethos quoted by the Harrington camp is, ‘The harder we all work, the luckier we get and long may it continue.’
And I think we’ll leave it there.
The first time I met celebrated trainer Jessica Harrington (75) we were both at the wrong door of St George’s Hall in Liverpool trying to get into the Grand National Weights Lunch.
Equally flustered, we were pointed in the direction of the right door, and as we circumnavigated the colossal building to try and make the opening speeches, there was no keeping up with her – she’s as fit as a flea and as fast as one of her horses.
One thing is guaranteed, Harrington won’t be putting her feet up any time soon despite a bit of a shock last place result for talented filly Marie Philippe in the Coolmore NH Sires ‘Santiago’ Irish EBF Mares INH Flat Race at Leopardstown on Sunday.
The Flemensfirth filly was making her bid for blacktype after a successful start for Harrington at Fairyhouse in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Four-Year-Old Fillies INH Flat Race in December last year. It wasn’t Marie Phillipe’s day on Sunday, and Harrington reported afterwards she didn’t scope well.
Jessica is versatile in that her success over jumps can be matched with multiple successes on the biggest stages of the flat racing calendar. \ INPHO/James Crombie
Family
Jessica Harrington Racing is based at Commonstown Stud, Moone, Co Kildare and is on the doorstep of the Curragh Racecourse. The yard is as busy as a train station whenever you visit. The home facility boasts two-hundred stables, three gallops, fences and hurdles.
The business has grown successfully since Jessica took out her training license in 1989 alongside her late husband Johnny Harrington (a respected bloodstock man who sadly died three weeks after Jessica won the Champion Hurdle with Jezki in 2014).
Family is central at Commonstown with Jessica and Johnny’s two daughters Emma and Kate firmly at the helm of the business – Kate working alongside Jessica as assistant trainer and Emma running things behind the scenes.
Harrington started out as an international event rider competing for her country in two Olympic Games before switching to National Hunt and Flat training in 1989. Some people have more than their fair share of talent.
Sizing John
Dual-purpose trainer Harrington says she doesn’t remember learning to ride, horses have just always been there.
She had her first winner in Lady Olein at Leopardstown in 1991 and she is now the most successful female trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, winning the Champion Chase with Moscow Flyer twice (2003, 2005) and the Champion Hurdle with Jezki (2014) then, in her first ever entry, she was triumphant in the biggest prize of them all, the Timico Gold Cup with seven-year-old Sizing John.
Harrington is versatile in that her success over jumps can be matched with multiple successes on the biggest stages of the flat racing calendar. Pathfork won the Group 1 Vincent O’Brien National Stakes in 2010 giving Jessica her first Group 1 winner, and the superstar filly that is Alpha Centauri gave the Harrington team their first Classic and Royal Ascot winner in the 2018 Irish 1,000 Guineas and Group 1 Coronation Stakes.
Gold Cup
Harrington is only the third female trainer to win the Gold Cup alongside racing legends Henrietta Knight (Best Mate 2002-2004) and Jenny Pitman (Burrough Hill Lad 1984, Garrison Savannah 1991).
In discussing being a woman in the racing industry she observes: “When I started training 33 years ago, the owners would rather talk to Johnny than me because men wanted to talk to men, you’re in a completely male dominated industry – it doesn’t worry me now and I don’t even notice it. As far as I’m concerned, we’re all trainers, we’re all doing the same job.”
Penny drops
In discussing her feel for younger horses, Harrington explains that she can’t always know which horses ‘have it’. “It’s very hard to know – the penny drops with some earlier than others and when it has dropped and they’re still no good, well they’re still no good!
"On the flat they are bred to perform early and if they’re not doing it, they’ll probably never do it. With National Hunt, we’re very good at giving a five-year-old another year, because he’s still growing. But you mustn’t kid yourself, you have to get real.
“We’ve a lot of horses that are slower to come, they’re just like a gawky teenagers. I’ve learned to be much more patient than I used to be, give them time.”
With her vast experience in eventing, Harrington brings something to her training programme that differs from other trainers: “I like the horses to go in a nice shape, I like to make sure that they trot well, I like them to be calm and we do a lot of loose-schooling before they ever jump.
"I think they learn to jump better on their own without someone on their back interfering with them, they’ll learn to look after themselves.”
Harrington’s approach has positive repercussions both on and off track. Putting in a solid foundation helps a horse when it comes to its next career too. Harrington is an advocate for off-track racehorses in second careers, and is also patron of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust.
The ethos quoted by the Harrington camp is, ‘The harder we all work, the luckier we get and long may it continue.’
And I think we’ll leave it there.
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