Jessica Harrington defies her years to keep setting standards
Trainer Jessica Harrington has tasted great success but remains driven by her ambition to achieve so much more
WHEN Jessica Harrington was named sportswoman of the year for 2017, the honour made her happy but also made her smile. She was recognised last December for her successes over the previous 12 months, most notably training Sizing John to win the Gold Cup at Cheltenham, the second leg of a triple crown preceded by victory in the Irish Gold Cup and completed by a win in the Punchestown Gold Cup in April.
The Cheltenham win — the first time she entered a horse in the race — was one of three enjoyed by Harrington at the Festival in March, taking her total there to 11 and giving her the status of most successful female trainer in Cheltenham history.
It was no shock, then, that she was announced just a few weeks ago as Ireland’s leading sportswoman at the age of 70. Three weeks before her 71st birthday, she understands the importance of the honour but laughs at the timing of it.
‘Seven years ago, they gave me the lifetime achievement award,’ she says. ‘Then I go back seven years later and win sportswoman of the year. That made me laugh a lot. I’d been cast on the dump, “Come on you, you better retire”.
‘I don’t think age has much to do with it.’
Harrington’s refusal to get settled in a hall of fame is not surprising. Energy and ambition radiate from her.
It is a day of bitter cold in Leopardstown. Thick clumps of snow fall on the racecourse outside. Indoors, she is one of the notables present at the launch of next month’s Dublin Racing Festival.
She has spent much of the morning talking, discussing possible entries and assessing the competition ahead of the two-day meet at the south Dublin course. It is interesting to watch her in such a setting, required to sit and analyse when her nature wants to prioritise deeds over words.
This is a common instinct in racing, a tough sport where doing is valued more than saying.
What she has done in the 29 years since gaining her trainer’s licence attests to her talent; jockey Robbie Power put it plainly after guiding Sizing John to victory at Cheltenham. ‘Jessica Harrington is a genius,’ he said. She is certainly remarkable. No other Irish trainer has saddled the winner of the Champion Chase (Moscow Flyer), the Champion Hurdle (Jezki) and the Gold Cup at Cheltenham.
But her talent is distinguished, too, by her sex and her age. She understands this, speaking in the past of owners ringing the yard in her early years as a trainer and asking to speak to Johnny, her late husband who died in 2014.
‘I don’t mind the fact they say lady trainer,’ she says now. ‘Look, I don’t mind it because they’re always going to say it, simple as that.
‘Someone told me I was the woman trainer with the most wins at Cheltenham, and I said, “Isn’t it great?” But I am just a trainer.
‘I’m doing exactly the same job as the men. There’s nothing different in what they do to what I do.’ That final point must be disputed. Harrington is an inspiration in a way many of her competitors simply could not be. Racing is no different to other mainstream sports in the dominance enjoyed by men. Harrington has shown determination to get to a point where her talent can shine. Her achievements have been facilitated by skill with and a love for horses that have shaped her entire life.
The influence of her father has been regularly cited over the years. Brigadier Bryan Fowler fought in two World Wars and won a silver medal as part of the British polo team at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Games torn between the
I don’t mind that they say lady trainer because they always will
I love training, that is why we get up on these cold mornings
greatness of Jesse Owens and the ambitions of Adolf Hitler. He later returned to his native Meath to farm, where his daughter’s sporting interests were nurtured. The impact of her mother, Mary, on this passion should be recorded, too.
‘She was brilliant,’ says Jessica now. ‘She was always in the background, organising things. She rode beautifully. She always rode sidesaddle, hunted side-saddle. When she was 14 or 15 she nearly gave up riding because she kept falling off the whole time. Someone suggested she should ride side-saddle, and so she did, for the rest of her life.’
Eventing was the first notable manifestation of Jessica Harrington’s flaming competitive nature. She was the last Irish rider to finish in the top three at Badminton, and has revealed in the past a friendship with Camilla ParkerBowles nurtured through the sport.
Harrington was selected to emulate her father and compete in two Olympics. Ireland were among the countries that boycotted the eventing competition at Moscow in 1980, though, and in 1984 Harrington’s horse went lame and she never got to take part in the competition at the Los Angeles Games.
By then she was married to Johnny, a bloodstock agent who also had a training licence. In the late 1980s she had one of her own, embarking on a career that pulses with goals still. Her approach to this career she was starting at the age of 42 was shaped by the need to compete that, she says with a smile, has always been with her.
‘I am competitive; it’s no good, I’m just competitive,’ she says, as if trying to explain away a compulsion.
‘I like winning. I can’t deny that I don’t like it, and I enjoy the whole thing of racing. But there again, racing is a great leveller. One moment you’ll be up on cloud nine, and the next moment you’re on the bottom, full of disappointments. The only thing for sure in racing is that there are more disappointments than excitements.’
Harrington does not comport herself in the manner of someone stooped by regular defeats. This is not merely because of the victories she enjoyed over the past year.
It is a function of the untiring love she has for training horses. She looks out at the swirling snow and she cannot wait to return to Kildare.
There is work to be done, always more to be done.
‘Why do we keep doing it? Because we love it,’ she says. ‘I absolutely love it. I love anything to do with racing. I love the horses. I love training. That’s why we get up on mornings like this when sleet is coming into your face horizontally.
‘It’s a way of life and it’s something I love doing. I love looking at horses and I love the excitement of getting the best out of horses, really, training them as well as you can to win as many races as you can.’
Sportspeople often bridle at the suggestion they serve as role models, and unreasonable demands are made of many who are uncomfortable with tailoring their life to suit public attention. Harrington is not one of them. She understands that by dint of her success, but also being a woman in her 70s and a leading figure in one of the most popular sports in these islands, she serves as an inspiration. ‘I think it’s a good thing. I looked up to a lot of people when I was growing up. One of my biggest heroes was Vincent O’Brien, as a trainer. I just thought it was amazing what he did. I was growing up when he won three Grand Nationals. I remember watching one of those three. Then he turned and won on the flat. Look, as long as I behave myself it’s alright, as long as I don’t do anything stupid.’
That caution is delivered with a grin. She pulls on a woolly hat embroidered with Jessica Harrington Racing. The draw of her Commonstown Stables in Moone, County Kildare, is constant. And there is much to be done if the answer to a question of her remaining ambitions is a guide.
A list of targets tumbles out of Harrington.
‘Oh, loads of them,’ she says excitedly. ‘I must win a Gold Cup again. Win races, good races. I really want to win the English Grand National but I haven’t actually got a horse for it this year.
‘I’d love to win a classic; I’d love to win at Royal Ascot. I’ve got a runner for the first time, all being well, in Dubai on World Cup day. I’d love to win there. I’d love to win a few more races internationally, spread my wings a bit.’
Earlier in the week, a racing journalist phoned Harrington with a query. It was after seven o’clock at night, but she was on her way to the gym.
‘I try and go once a week and sometimes twice,’ she explains now. Her face then breaks into a big smile as she pulls off a glove to shake hands and turns towards the snow. I have to keep myself going,’ she grins. ‘Otherwise I’ll end up like an old woman.’