Jessica Harrington finds consolation with Bocca Baciata

Trainer disappointed that Jezki faces season on sidelines with leg injury

Trainer Jessica Harrington has Elegant Statesman running at Navan on Saturday. Photograph: Donall Farmer.
Trainer Jessica Harrington has Elegant Statesman running at Navan on Saturday. Photograph: Donall Farmer.

The former Champion Hurdle winner Jezki faces a season on the injury sidelines but trainer Jessica Harrington could still be on her international travels with Bocca Baciata in three weeks' time.

Third to Ribbons on her last start in the Blandford Stakes, Bocca Baciata has the $500,000 Grade One EP Taylor Stakes at Woodbine in Toronto on a list of future options.

"It's possible she could go to Canada, " confirmed a spokesman for the owners, Flaxman Holdings. "There are a few options to weigh up but that is a possibility."

In contrast Jezki had been favourite for the World Hurdle but now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Harrington reported: “Unfortunately he’s out for the season. He came back into training in the second week of August and we found he had some heat in his leg.”

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Harrington has a single runner at Navan's jumps card on Saturday where her old ally Barry Geraghty can score for Jezki's owner JP McManus on board Elegant Statesman in the two and a half mile handicap chase.

A winner at Down Royal in June, ground conditions that require watering should be ideal for the eight-year-old.

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor

Brian O'Connor is the racing correspondent of The Irish Times. He also writes the Tipping Point column