Jessica won’t rush her red-hot Chantilly filly

÷JESSICA Harrington will take her time in planning the next step for her French Oaks runner-up Alpine Star. The three-year-old filly was beaten only a short neck when contesting the Group One Prix de Diane, at Chantilly on Sunday. ‘She ran very well, she won everywhere but on the line!’ Harrington said of the performance. ‘She ran an absolutely brilliant race and I was delighted. She stays a mile and a quarter, she’ll probably get a mile and a half in time. She’s a very special filly. ‘I’m not sure (what trip she will run over next). I’ll chat with the owners. We’ve no immediate plans, we’ll let her settle,’ added Harrington. ÷FORMER champion jockey Pat Smullen has presented a cheque to doctors in St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, to fund a state-of-the-art next generation sequencing (NGS) machine. The donation came as a direct result of the money raised on Pat’s behalf at last September’s Longines Irish Champions Weekend, which culminated in the Pat Smullen Champions Race for Cancer Trials Ireland at the Curragh. ‘I’m delighted the generosity that people showed is having impacts like this, and I look forward to seeing more opportunities for people with pancreatic cancer open up very soon,’ said Smullen. ÷STEVE Cauthen has praised Emmet McNamara’s Investec Derby-winning ride aboard Serpentine. McNamara was having just his ninth ride of the season in the Classic, but made virtually all in a style reminiscent of Cauthen on Slip Anchor back in 1985. Cauthen was famed for his front-running tactics, adopted from his native America, and he found plenty of similarities with his own success. ‘I thought it was a very good ride. I don’t know what Aidan’s instructions were, but the kid used his initiative coming down the hill. He didn’t sit and wait for the others. It was very instinctive. It proved there’s nothing wrong with going from the front, even in the Derby,’ Cauthen told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast.