Our Friends in Ireland: Sheila Lavery stable tour featuring Prince Of Naples and Lil Grey

Despite the sad loss last year of her stable star, 1000 Guineas runner-up Lady Kaya, 2019 was Sheila Lavery’s best year since she started training. This year’s team consists of a mix of established performers and progressive youngsters, and she is looking forward to getting them going as soon as racing resumes.

• Stable star: Prince Of Naples
• Horse to follow: Lil Grey
• Handicapper to follow: Galeola

Breaking Story

He is a horse who has just had niggly little problems. He ran well last time though at Dundalk to finish third behind Charcor and Simsir, who went on to win in Dubai. I don’t think he was in love with the surface that evening. He travelled well turning in and I thought he was going to take a lot of beating. I don’t think that he wants fast ground, but nice, good turf, or just on the easy side, should be ideal.

Chimeric

He wasn’t beaten far on his racecourse debut at Naas last month, on the first day of the turf season. He took a big blow afterwards, and he should come on for it. He will probably be at his best on soft ground.

Galeola

She was great last season, she won three of her last four races, and was only just beaten in the other. She improved by 27lb on official ratings.

She had a slight setback after she won at Leopardstown in August, and we just weren’t going to get her back for the back end of the season, so she has had a nice break. She has come back in really well, we’re very happy with her.

She was always a big backward filly here, she was so big, she wouldn’t have done a huge amount of work early on. She didn’t make her racecourse debut until the November of her three-year-old year.

The ground was fast in Leopardstown in August, and she won on yielding ground at Tipperary, so I don’t think that she is ground dependent. She should be ready to go in July, and we’ll take it from there.

Half Nutz

He kept on well to win a nursery at Navan in October on his final run last season. He’s back in now, and we’re happy with where he is. He has strengthened up over the winter. He’ll run away now in handicaps, over five and six furlongs. A stiff five or six – the Navan nursery was over five and a half furlongs – and he could get an easy seven.

Lil Grey

She’s really good. I probably over-raced her a bit last year, but she still ran some really good races. She’s not overly big, and she hasn’t grown much during the winter, but she has a massive stride. She doesn’t have the stride of a small horse.

I think she’ll stay seven furlongs all right. She was only just beaten in the Anglesey Stakes over six and a half. Whether or not she’ll stay a mile, we don’t know for sure yet. She’s entered in the 1000 Guineas and, of course it depends how things pan out, but we’ll let her take her chance there if we can. The Newmarket mile is an easier mile than the mile at The Curragh, and she handled the track well in the Cheveley Park Stakes last year. The people in the syndicate that owns her are very sporting people, so we might as well have a go.

Magnetic North

He did well last summer, winning two good handicaps and finishing third in the Ahonoora Handicap at Galway. He’s just back in now, it will take him a little while to get there. He gets a mile and a half all right, but I’d say he is better over 10 furlongs. He won on fast ground at Leopardstown, but Rory Cleary, who rode him that day, said that that was as fast as he’d want it. We’re looking forward to getting him going again.

Mr Ormsby

He’s great. He ran well there at Dundalk in February after a break. He needs the ground to be just right for him, he needs yielding ground. If it’s too fast he can’t go on it, and if it’s too slow, he can’t breathe on it. Seven furlongs to a mile on yielding ground, that’s his ideal.

Mr Scarlet

He’s as well as I have had him for a long time. He’s in a very good place. He just duffed his start at Naas last time. He has come down the handicap though, he is down to a mark of 77, and he should be competitive this year off that mark. Six furlongs is his trip, but I might try him over seven too. Ideally, he’d want a slight ease in the ground.

Prince Of Naples

He’s in great form. He’s a stuffy fresh little horse, he takes plenty of work, but he loves it. He’s happy and bouncy.

He had a couple of weeks off after he won at Dundalk in December, and he is just ticking over now. He’s entered in the Guineas. I would love to get a prep run into him, I would love to have run him in one of the trials, but if the Guineas comes up, we could just let him take his chance in it without a trial, see how he goes. He has never been beyond seven furlongs before, but he got the seven furlongs well in Dundalk last time and, as long as he settles, he has every chance of getting a mile.

Quizical

He gave us a great day in September when he won the Pat Smullen Champions Race For Cancer Trials Ireland on Irish Champions Weekend at The Curragh under AP McCoy. I’m just so fond of Pat, and the atmosphere that day was unbelievable. Quizical was in a great place for the Irish Lincoln, so it’s a shame that that didn’t go ahead. The ground might be gone for him when we get back racing again. I might just put him back into the field for a little while. He could be one for the back-end of the season. He just needs a bit of a cut.

Sovereigns Bright

She won her maiden at Roscommon in July. She’s a funny horse to train, she tries to do way too much here at home all the time. She’s strengthened up nicely though, that’s the nature of her family. We’re hoping that she can improve this season.

Tashi

Her two runs last season as a two-year-old were good, and the form of the Cork race has worked out well since. She is a big filly, and she has strengthened nicely through the winter. There’s no pressure on her, she’s a nice filly and we’re hopeful that she can improve through the season.

Ultra Pride

He seems to have strengthened up nicely this year. He was just a little bit weak last year, and he’s a horse who will be getting better with age. He’s back in work now, and we’ll aim him at those mile-and-a-half handicaps.

Vivandiere

She’s a lovely filly, bred and owned by Airlie Stud. She has gone back to her owners for now on a bit of a break, but I think she’ll be a lovely 10-furlong filly.

Two-year-olds

It looks like we have some nice two-year-olds this season, among them a half-brother to Viztoria by Galileo, and a Dandy Man filly out of Viztoria. We have 20 two-year-olds in total, so we’re looking forward to seeing how they go.

More Irish stable tours from Donn

• Denis Hogan Stable Tour
• Ado McGuinness Stable Tour

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