Jessica Harrington seeking Ascot glory for Bocca Baciata

Jessica Harrington is hoping a likely switch to Ascot's inner National Hunt track for next month's British Champions Day could help Bocca Baciata secure an elusive Group 1 prize.

Bocca Baciata looked to have a good opportunity to win at the top-level in Deauville when starting favourite for the Prix Jean Romanet last month only to dramatically fade to last.

Harrington’s star four-year- old had previously won the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes at the Curragh and given the outstanding Minding a brief scare in the Pretty Polly Stakes.

For a filly that beat Pleascach and Diamondsandrubies – both later Group 1 winners – at the start of her three-year-old career, Bocca Baciata would be deserving of a top-flight success and she is now being targeted for the Fillies & Mares Stakes on October 15th.

Woodbine’s EP Taylor Stakes and the Prix de l’Opéra on Arc day at Chantilly had been mooted as possible options but Harrington has ruled them out on the back of that lacklustre effort at Deauville.

Soft ground

“She didn’t travel well to France last time so we’re not going to go further. God knows why she ran like that. God knows why horses run like that. But she obviously wasn’t herself. So all being well she’ll go to

Ascot

for the Filly & Mare over a mile and a half. She’s won a Group 2, a Group 3 and a Listed so it would obviously be nice to get a Group 1,” she said.

Bocca Baciata’s only previous attempt at a mile and a half came in the same race last year when she finished fifth to Simple Verse on soft ground.

Such conditions usually prevail on Champions Day but in an attempt to improve the going for the flagship autumn event, the Ascot authorities outlined their intention to move races to a newly demarcated inner course which is usually reserved for the jumps. In the unlikely event of firm conditions, the outer track will be used in the interests of horse welfare.

“The jumps track won’t have been watered so hopefully things won’t be as soft as they usually are and that would help our filly with the mile and a half,” said Harrington, renowned for her National Hunt success in the last two decades.

Perhaps her greatest jumping success came with Jezki in the 2014 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and the JP McManus-owned star is back in training at Harrington’s Moone stables after a leg injury forced him to miss last season.

Old rival

Jezki hasn’t raced since beating his old rival Hurricane Fly over three miles at the 2015 Punchestown festival and before that had landed the Aintree Hurdle over 2½.

“He is back with me but I’m not sure what the plan is yet. I will have to talk to Frank [Berry – McManus’s racing manager]. It’s one day at a time with the horse but I would imagine if he is to stay over hurdles it will be down the staying route,” Harrington said.

Jezki is currently a 16-1 shot in most ante-post lists for the World Hurdle at Cheltenham in March and is among a host of McManus-owned horses that the owner’s retained rider, Barry Geraghty, can look forward to riding this winter.

The former champion jockey has indicated he hopes to return to action at Gowran on Saturday week after giving an upbeat bulletin on his recovery from a broken arm sustained in mid-July at Market Rasen.

“It was a bad enough break. I got a plate and some screws in. I suppose that made it stable quickly. There’s a nice card in Gowran on October 1st and Tipperary on the 2nd. It might take another week or two but that’s my target. With the exception of Galway and Listowel it probably wasn’t the worse time to be off,” Geraghty said.