Barnavara Team Brimming With Excitement For The Tattersalls Sceptre Sessions

[Wandering Eyes]

Prix de l'Opera winner Barnavara (Calyx) and Listed-winning sprinter Saratoga Special (Mehmas) are set to shine at the upcoming Sceptre Sessions of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.

Both fillies are trained by Jessica Harrington and have carried the colours of Alpha Racing to some notable successes this year. Few fillies boast as progressive a profile as Barnavara, who went from strength to strength this season, culminating with that victory at the highest level in the Prix de l'Opera. 

She is one of the standout offerings at the Sceptre Sessions and connections are suitably excited about what could be in store.

 

 

Reflecting on her Group 1 triumph at ParisLongchamp, Harrington said, “My only worry was that she had never travelled – she had only ever raced in Ireland prior to that. But she was brilliant.”

Harrington added, “She was determined to win – she has an unbelievable attitude. She has a big, long neck and she stuck it right out at the line. It was just amazing. 

“Shane [Foley] got everything right. He's a very, very good jockey from the front and he gets the fractions right. He had unbelievable faith in her. He said, 'of course she can do it.' She is a pretty willing partner for him.”

Barnavara has won five of her 13 starts and placed on a further five occasions for the Harrington team. Along with her Group 1 triumph, she was victorious in the Group 2 Blandford Stakes at the Curragh as well as the Group 3 Al Shira'aa Jannah Rose Stakes at Naas. All of her big-race triumphs have come over 1m2f and Harrington believes that Barnavara could be even better as a four-year-old and revealed that she has even mapped out a theoretical plan for the filly next year.

She said, “You would think she would have to improve as a four-year-old because it's only now that she is filling into her frame. We'd go to York followed by the Pretty Polly in Ireland and then the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood. And then, maybe, you could even try her over a-mile-and-a-half. Who knows? She goes on any ground.”

Saratoga Special is in a different mould to Barnavara given she is a Listed-winning speedster. Her finest hour came when landing a Listed contest over the minimum trip at Ayr this year and she makes up an impressive two-pronged attack on the Sceptre Sessions for connections.

Harrington concluded, “She wasn't a bad two-year-old. She didn't win at two but was Listed-placed. She came out and won her maiden at the beginning of the year and, you know, it can be tough for these three-year-old sprinters but she went to Ayr and won her Listed race there at odds of 66-1 when ridden by our stable apprentice Keithen [Kennedy]. She's a smashing, sound filly and hopefully she will sell well for them [the Alpha Racing Syndicate] as well.”

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