Harrington sets sights on Newmarket Guineas for Millisle

PA Sport Reporters
April 10, 2020 2:00 pm

Trainer outlines Classic hopes for star fillies.

Jessica Harrington would like to run Millisle in the Qipco 1000 Guineas this season – and is hopeful the speedy filly will get a mile.

The Cheveley Park Stakes winner was one of a host of outstanding juvenile fillies for Harrington last season, and the fact her Group One success came at Newmarket makes it a logical option for Classic glory.

A daughter of Starspangledbanner, she was the top-rated performer of her sex in Europe with a rating of 115, and Harrington told Sky Sports Racing: “She’s in great form, she’s done very well. She’s actually grown over the winter and I’m very happy with her.

Cheveley Park winner Millisle, trained by @Jessica_Racing, is the champion two-year-old filly of last year. Awarded a rating of 115. #EuropeanClassifications pic.twitter.com/zsiWfn2Xas
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) January 22, 2020

“The plan always was to go to the English Guineas with her, because she’s proved herself at Newmarket and won on the track, and I wanted to run her over a mile in a Group One to see if she did stay. There’s no reason she wouldn’t stay, there’s plenty of stamina on her dam’s side.

“I’d be very hopeful (of staying), with her style of racing she should get a mile.”

Albigna was another Group One winner for the yard, storming to victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc day, before finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, where she enjoyed little luck.

Albigna was one of the juvenile stars for Jessica Harrington last season (Graham Clark/PA)

Harrington said: “She’s a lovely filly, and she’s grown and filled out. We sort of half-planned to go back to Longchamp with her (French 1000 Guineas), but we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”

Reflecting on her Santa Anita experience, she said: “She jumped well and then didn’t go round the first bend – Shane (Foley) actually thought she was going to go straight on, then she came home very well.

“She’s run on all sorts of ground, good to firm at Santa Anita to soft in Paris and everything in between. She’s a very versatile filly and going into the year you’d hope she’d definitely stay a mile and hopefully she step up to a mile and a quarter or even a mile and a half.”

Alpine Star was a Group Two winner in the same Niarchos family silks as Albigna.

Alpine Star returns after winning the Debutante Stakes @curraghrace pic.twitter.com/DhWBhYpmK1
— Irishracing.com Live (@IrishRacing365) August 23, 2019

Harrington said: “She’s done well and is definitely a staying filly. We’ll probably give her a shot at a Guineas with the idea she might have gone to France or the Irish Guineas, but she’ll definitely probably end up being a mile-and-a-half filly.

“She’s a lovely filly and has a great temperament.”

Cayenne Pepper has Group Three honours to her name and finished her campaign with a good run to be fourth to Quadrilateral in the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket.

Her trainer said: “She didn’t do that well over the winter, but the last two weeks she has really started to flourish as the weather has got warmer. She’s going to be a staying filly, she’ll go a mile and a quarter, mile and a half.”

Talking generally about how her stars were going before the season was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, Harrington said: “Luckily they weren’t totally on the boil, we were only building up and what we’ve done is kept on doing the same old without actually stepping up to the next level.”