Jessica Harrington: the inside track on my Galway team

Jessica Harrington spoke to BoyleSports earlier this week ahead of the Galway Festival which gets underway on Monday July 28.

Below, the legendary trainer speaks on the uniqueness of the seven-day extravaganza and the good luck she has had at the track, her best chances this year and also a little look ahead to a couple of her runners that could pitch up in the King George at Ascot and also the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

We’ve just had great luck there. I've won the Galway Hurdle, I've been placed in it, I've won the QR, my daughter Kate winning the QR race there on the Monday night. It's probably as good a night as we've ever had up there and we've had some very good nights up there. It's just fun and people love going there. Syndicates also absolutely love having a runner there.

There isn't, you know, the course is unique. There isn't another racecourse like it, especially the chase course with the in and outs of the second last and the last fences and then the long climb up the hill.

The early closing races closed today. So I have a few entries in those handicaps, including the Galway Plate. We've got various horses in the big handicaps, the mile handicap, the seven furlong handicap, for example. We have two horses that ran very well there last year; Norwalk Havoc, he's back in the mile after being just beaten in it last year, and Hurricane Ivor in the seven-furlong, who was also only just beaten in it last year. 

It's hard to know; it depends on the ground. If we get a bit of dig in the ground we could have plenty of runners there. Horses like Riviera Queen, who is going to go for the two-mile amateur race; she needs soft ground. There are a few horses there who do and I’m hoping it’s soft by the time of the festival. They've had a lot of rain and it's yielding ground at the moment. It just depends on whether we get another heatwave or not!

We'll have three or four horses probably running every day. We've got horses for the low grade handicaps, we've got a couple of two-year-olds that'll go there. I like running two-year-olds there. It gives them a great education. I’ll have a better idea of how many runners we’ll have about a week beforehand. 

Ashdale Bob will run in the Galway Plate. He won round there last year in the Guinness Open Gate Brewery Chase there last year, so he's won round the course and, while it's a competitive handicap, he's got a bit of class about him.

Dread and excitement! It was like someone always liked being pregnant. Every time you finish it you'll say you'll never go back there again and the following year there you are again doing the same thing!

There's plenty of Flat races up there and I've got a couple of jumpers that'll probably run in the low-grade handicaps, because it's a great thing about Galway; it's not all about good racing. Every class of horse has a chance to run up there. They cater for everyone; there are good races, but you also have low-grade handicaps, maidens and everything.

Some owners love it, some owners hate it. The love-hate relationship always goes on. Owners that have been lucky up there love it. Owners that are unlucky up there hate it!

Not really; they do a great job up there. In fact, they do the best job ever. It's amazing how they can race for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It’s a seven-day meeting! And on a small bit of ground, which they look after very well. 

Same as ever. Nothing special. You can't really replicate it.

Green Impact is entered for the King George but it depends. I don't know where he's going yet. He may go to America for the Saratoga Invitational. 

Hotazhell has an entry in the same race, but also in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood, but again it depends if it rains. Everything is up in the air and open at the moment. It depends what the weather forecast is.

There were a lot of high-class handicaps and that's what they want for the betting. Maybe they could rejig the program a little bit more and get a few more good races in. The same can be said for the Epsom Derby. They have nothing but handicaps on the day of the Epsom Derby. It seems to be the trend to get the punters' money off them. That's the way I look at it.