Jessica Harrington

Jessica Jane Harrington, still known in racing circles as Mrs. John Harrington – her late husband, Johnny, died from cancer in 2014 – was born in London, but trains in Moone, Co. Kildare. Originally a permit holder, Mrs. Harrington first took out a full training licence in 1991 and, nowadays, has the distinction of being the most successful female trainer in the history of the Cheltenham Festival, with 11 winners.

She saddled her first Festival winner, Space Trucker, owned by Mrs. Eileen Queally and ridden by Shay Barry, in the Grand Annual Chase in 1999, but the horse that thrust her into the public eye was Moscow Flyer. Owned by Brian Kearney, Moscow Flyer was a three-time Grade One winner over hurdles in his native land, but became an even better steeplechaser – in fact, with a Timeform Annual Rating of 184, arguably the best to come out of Ireland since the halcyon days of Arkle, Flyingbolt and Mill House – and ran at five consecutive Cheltenham Festivals in that capacity.

On his first appearance, in 2002, he readily won the Arkle Challenge Trophy by 4 lengths from the Martin Pipe-trained favourite, Seebald, and on his second, in 2003, justified favouritism for the Queen Mother Champion Chase with an emphatic, 7-length victory over Native Upmanship, trained by Arthur Moore. Moscow Flyer started odds-on to retain his title in 2004 and was still travelling well within himself when blundering and unseating jockey Barry Geraghty at the fourth last fence. He gained some compensation in 2005, though, when staying on strongly to beat Well Chief, also trained by Martin Pipe, by 2 lengths for a memorable second victory in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

In 2014, Mrs. Harrington added the Champion Hurdle to her Cheltenham tally, courtesy of Jezki, owned by J.P. McManus and ridden by Barry Geraghty, and has since added the Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle with Supasundae, the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Sizing John and the Grand Annual Chase with Rock The World, all in 2017. Of here Gold Cup success, she said, ‘This is the jewel in the crown. I’ve been watching and listening to this for as long as I can remember.’