Discoveries set for Newmarket, but only on good ground Jessica Harrington opened up her yard to the press this morning to showcase a powerful team of Flat horses for the upcoming season. The string was led by 1,000 Guineas hopeful Discoveries who is set to head to Newmarket at the start of next month, if she gets good ground. The full-sister to Alpha Centauri won two of her four outings as a juvenile, culminating with Group 1 glory in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh. She had been below par previously on soft ground at the Kildare venue and Harrington has warned she won't run on slow going again. 1,000 Guineas hope Discoveries @Jessica_Racing press morning pic.twitter.com/6OSa7PPVc0— Irishracing.com Live (@IrishRacing365) April 4, 2022 “All being well she goes to the English Guineas, that's the plan at the minute, provided the ground is fast,” said the Moone handler. “I won't run her unless the ground is quick. She's like her sister, she doesn't like slow ground, and the quicker the ground the better she goes. “She's done well over the winter and I'm happy with her. The family all got a mile and her half-sister Alpine Star got a mile-and-a-quarter so you'd imagine she'll get a mile perfect. “Her work is pleasing and we might as well try and go to Newmarket, if the ground is soft that's that and we can then go to the Curragh. “We'll just have to see what happens. I'm not going to make the same mistake I made with Alpha, running her on soft ground and then realising she couldn't walk on it. “Discoveries is the same, she struggled on yielding ground.” On the famous family she added:- “I have her full brother here, Simpson's Paradox he's called, and he's very different again. “You could line them all up and one is more different than the other. “Alpha Centauri was a big grey, Alpine Star was a little low insignificant filly about 15-2 and a mealy chestnut. Discoveries is bay with a big head, completely different again. “The colt Simpson's Paradox is very pretty, very attractive, and quite small but he is a middle of May foal. He's only starting to grow now. “They are an extraordinary family.” Another exciting prospect at Commonstown is the first foal of Alpha Centuari, the Galileo colt Saturn. “He's pretty forward. She ran in May and I wouldn't be surprised if he ran in the middle to the end of May. “It just depends on how it goes in the next couple of weeks, whether he has another growing spurt or gets a bit weak or something. It'll be what it'll be. “He's very mature in his mind and he does everything very easily.” Saturn, the first foal of Alpha Centauri by Galileo pic.twitter.com/KYEW9W00iY— Irishracing.com Live (@IrishRacing365) April 4, 2022 Harrington has 75 two-year-olds among her 175 strong team and is excited by the potential of her string. Her focus has shifted to the Flat in recent years and she explained:- “Alan Potts died and he was my main source of high class horses over jumps. “The ones I have are quite nice and I'll always have a few. It keeps me busy during the winter. “I've got some very nice Flat horses now, with proper pedigrees. “They are very exciting, you just don't know what they are going to turn out like. The ones that promise you everything could turn out to do nothing. “They are not all going to be good, there are going to be some bad ones as well amongst them. “I've noticed the ones I have this year are all well grown and strong horses. They've all got a bit of size and scope. “The ones that we've run they just came to hand and we have two or three others to run soon. “We had a very good January and first couple of weeks in February, then it got cold. “We got a lot of work into them. Normally we would only get them around the field once or twice because it's wet but we got down practically every week for four weeks.” Harrington also outlined plans for some of her older horses:- Real Appeal “He'll go for anything on good ground. He'll start off in the Amethyst and then might go to Ascot. “Hopefully we can get him placed in a Group 1.” Admiralty Place “He'll be a nice horse going forward. I was delighted with his run (third at the Curragh to Malex) and he'll go for a couple of premier handicaps. “Then we'll see how we get on, I'm only really learning about him. He's had plenty of time and it was only his second run the other day.” Tauran Shaman “He'll be running over a mile to a mile-and-a-quarter on good ground. He's in a good place this year. “He doesn't like the Curragh, he loves Leopardstown and Galway.” Ace Aussie “He may run in the Gladness. He was behind Poetic Flare first time out last year but probably lost his way a little bit. He's in a good place this year. He's a big horse.” Leo De Fury “For the first time in his life he managed to get through the winter without having any operations. He's usually had something wrong with him. “He's in a very good place and we're going to step him up in trip. He might run in the Mooresbridge at the weekend but then we are going to run him in the Vintage Crop and see if he stays. “I see no reason why he won't, he's by Australia. He needs good ground.” Bopedro “He was a little bit of a revelation last year. He's a little bit between a rock and a hard place as I haven't run him in a group or listed race yet but he's rated 105. “He's not an over big horse and we'll just see where we go.” Paris Lights “If he doesn't sit in the stalls he'll be alright! I'm going to step him up to a mile-and-a-quarter which I think will help him.” Adonis “I love him. He'll go for his maiden and probably should have won last year.” Cowboy Justice “He was going to run in Naas the first day but he wants good ground. He'll probably go six furlongs to start with and then six or seven furlongs. “He got castrated last year and then got colic so that's why he didn't run.” Confident Star “I'm very happy with him and he'll most likely go for a Guineas trial. “I think he's a miler and I think he's a stronger horse this year.” Forbearance “She's won her Listed and won her Group 3. We'll look at fillies races, four-year-olds and upwards, over a mile-and-a-quarter to a mile-and-a-half, maybe even a mile-five as long as the ground is quick. “She bounces off quick ground and could make a few journeys to England.” Cycladic “She has stayed in training this year because we thought she might improve a bit. We might try and sneak a bit of black-type with her. “She's got to improve but you never know with those fillies, especially the Fastnet Rocks.” Barrington Court “She'll run if we ever get soft ground for her. She's in great order this year and I'm delighted with her.” Flor De La Luna “She wants soft ground and she'll go anything between a mile-and-a-half and two miles.” The Blue Brilliant “She ran a blinder in France but didn't run well when she came back here. “She was meant to run the first day at the Curragh but when I saw the weather forecast I didn't bother with her. “She'll run in anything over a mile or a mile-and-two, if the ground was real soft I'd run her over a mile.” Caroline Herschel “She won in Killarney last year and then I ran her in the Group 3 race (at Leopardstown) and the ground was too quick for her. She needs soft ground and she's a stakes filly on soft ground.” Magical Lagoon “She will run in the Salsabil Stakes and she got an entry today in the English Oaks. “She did a racecourse gallop the other day and we were very happy with her. She's done well and gotten very strong over the winter. “She's always been a big strong filly and she seems to be a bit sharper than she was last year. She took a little while last year to get going. She'll want a mile-and-a-half.” Benitoite “She should have won at the Curragh, she got knocked over, and then she didn't run again. “She's a lovely filly and she's done very well over the winter. She'll be ready to run in about three weeks and she's starting to go very well.” Villanova Queen “I was thinking of running her in the Guineas trial at Leopardstown but it's only 18 days before the Guineas itself. “I'll have to see how she has come out of Saturday's race but looking at her this morning she's very relaxed. “I'm delighted as I thought she might be all over the place today but she's not. “All being well she'll go to the Irish Guineas. “She had a very wide draw the other day and was coming back to seven furlongs having won over a mile. That wasn't ideal but she stayed it well and I was delighted with her. She's a lovely big filly.” Alizarine “I was a bit disappointed with her but she probably wants to go further. She was running over a mile and I think she wants to go a mile-and-a-quarter. “She might go to the Salsabil Stakes or the Blue Wind.” Dark Vega “She's a lovely filly, she's big and very strong. It's taken a bit of time to get her going but she's in the right place. “She might run in a handicap and then on to a stakes race.” Sablonne “She'll go for a six furlong race whenever the ground is good, she's just about ready to go now. “I like to get some black-type with her because she's a nice filly. She hasn't grown much over the winter but she's very strong. She's gone squarer.” Trevaunance “She's a lovely big filly, she grew again during the winter and is an enormous filly. “She'll go a mile-and-a-quarter, stepping up to a mile-and-a-half. The aim is to get black-type and take it from there."
