PAT HEALY: Brand Ambassador and racing photographer Pat Healy pays tribute to the unsung heroes of Jessica Harrington’s team after an impressive victory for Lukcy Vega, and he also reacts to the latest Enable news.
Jessie’s Lucky team effort…
Jessica Harrington is fantastic woman and it’s great to see her continue to go from strength to strength on the Flat with Lucky Vega (pictured below) in the Phoenix Stakes last weekend. She’s had Group 1-winning fillies, now she’s got a Group 1-winning colt and it’s also fabulous for the owner, Zhang Yuesheng, as he puts a lot into the game and it’s his first Group 1.
Much of the credit has to go to the wider team, though, and that’s what I want to make clear. Some might not appreciate exactly what it takes – there are people down in the ‘trenches’ that need praise for Jessie’s success at the moment.
Obviously jockey Shane Foley, or Dusty as he’s known for the time he spent riding for Dusty Sheehy’s yard, deserves plenty of credit. He’d never ridden a horse until he was 16 and now it looks like he could go on to win his first Champion Jockey title.
Then there’s Emma Holden who led the horse in. She’s another who puts in a tremendous amount of work in the yard and has to be congratulated, but the huge cog in the Harrington wheel is Niall ‘Bubba’ Amond. He’s the horse box driver and general travelling head lad. He’s said before that he only drives champions, having previously been the driver for Pat Smullen, Ruby Walsh, and now he drives the box for Jessie.
He’ll be delighted to be involved in this big Group 1 winner and deserves plenty of praise for all his hard work behind the scenes.
Overall, it’s exciting to see Jessie winning a race like the Phoenix Stakes and Ger Lyons winning the Irish 2000 Guineas.
We’ve had so many years of domination from Ballydoyle that it is hard for other trainers to muscle in, so it’s great to witness others getting what they deserve. As for the horse, he looked an absolute cracker in the parade ring before the race.
I was speaking to Paddy Twomey and he said straight away that Lucky Vega was the pick in the ring.
He looked like the best horse in the race and won like the horse that he looked, so I’d say we’re probably looking at one of the top three two-year-olds of the Flat season.
They’re talking about the Middle Park Stakes in Newmarket next so we’ll look forward to that now.
Recognising effort in running horses overseas…
This weekend coming we’ve got the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville and it could be another big win for Jessie with Alpine Star set to line up. It looks a fantastic race but what I really think is most important here is to recognise the effort and sacrifice yards are putting in to run their horses abroad. Colin Keane and Ger Lyons, for example, haven’t been able to return to racing for two weeks since going to Goodwood for the Sussex Stakes, and that includes the travelling lads and the wider team too.
Running horses overseas isn’t as easy as it once was at the moment so you have to give credit to those trainers putting in the extra effort to go for these races – good luck to all those travelling to France on Sunday!
They know what’s best for Enable…
Monday’s big news was that Enable won’t be going to York. It means we’ll have to wait for the Arc for another big Group 1 clash but you can’t go against what John Gosden and the owners say. They know what’s best for her and her chances of winning a record third Arc. That’s the reason she’s in training and they’re clearly doing what’s right for the mare.
