"It was beginner's luck," said Jessica Harrington after her astonishing achievement in winning the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup at her first attempt.
Neither the word luck, nor the word beginner, exactly apply to a woman who has become a master of her profession, with the impressive Sizing John completing her set of the festival’s most important races.
“I’ve never even made an entry in the race. He was the first runner I had in the Irish Gold Cup, and he won that too,” she said.
It is 30 years since Harrington sent out her first winner, having taken over the licence at the picturesque stable in the village of Moone, Co Kildare, from her late husband, Johnny, when he had to concentrate on bloodstock interests.
The daughter of Brig Bryan Fowler, an officer in the British army, her influence in the world of horses has lasted longer than that, and she was a good enough three-day-eventer to ride at two Olympics.
After starting off with just a handful of horses, she had already won a couple of Champion Chases here with the wildly popular Moscow Flyer and the Champion Hurdle with Jezki. This, though, was the icing on the cake.
Skiing accident
Harrington, an immaculate figure in a blue coat and black fedora, looks a long way shy of her 70 years. She clearly acts rather younger, too, as she was sporting a cast on her wrist.
“I broke it skiing seven weeks ago,” she said matter-of-factly. “It’s only got a plate in it and seven screws.”
While Harrington is certainly not unfamiliar with the surroundings of the Cheltenham winner’s enclosure, this achievement was a little much to take in.
“I’m not on cloud nine, I’m on cloud 109,” she said. “It will sink in at some stage, I’m sure, but it certainly hasn’t yet. Any race is very special here, but this is the jewel in the crown.”
Along with jockey Robbie Power, who has a showjumping background, the other vital cog in the operation is head lad Eamonn Leigh, a servant for what he insisted was "40-ish" years.
“There have been many great memories here, but I never thought I’d see the day that we would win the Gold Cup,” said Leigh. “It’s the one that matters most.”
Fair idea
Ted Walsh, the trainer, former jockey, broadcaster and father of a certain Ruby, has a fair idea of how much this might have meant to Harrington.
“Any new horse that comes into your yard, people ask ‘is it a Gold Cup horse?’,” he said. “No one buys a horse to win the Champion Hurdle, the Champion Chase or even the Grand National. It’s what we are all in it for.”
Sizing John’s victory was the final piece of what has been a quite astonishing festival for Ireland, winning 19 of the 28 races, and Harrington also took the last for good measure. Walsh had not believed such a result was on the cards.
“You could never have expected it,” he said. “You’d have had to be a super-optimist. A lot of the star horses were missing, but the top players have delivered and a few more have come off the substitutes’ bench as well.”
Hector Ó hEochagáin was Ireland’s racing ambassador here as team captain in the BetBright Cup, a friendly challenge against the British horses.
“I’ll need to spend the next week in the shed, talking to the lawnmower,” said the amiable television and radio presenter, probably speaking for quite a few others that had managed to see out the four days.
