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Kate Harrington is excited to show off the famed family yard with a difference ahead of the latest HRI Open Morning this Saturday, writes Tom Masters.

Harrington and her mother Jessica, from Moone, County Kildare, revel in the fact they do things differently, with their unique gradually built yard.

And the Harrington family are delighted their yard, which has housed famed horses such as Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Sizing John in the past, has attracted so much interest.

Kate said: “I am really looking forward to the open morning, I hope the rain stops, I feel like Noah’s ark is going to arrive and take us all away!

“We are really looking forward to opening our doors, it will be great for people to come and see what the place is all about.

“We are not a purpose-built yard, our yard is grown up around the house and the old farmyard as it was and it is a little bit higgledy-piggledy, but somehow it works and works very well.

“It is a unique yard, it isn’t a yard that is purpose-built with big American barns, where you find stables here, there and everywhere.

“Horse Racing Ireland have had a good pre-registration, we’re hoping to get about 400-500 potentially, which would be nice but you never know, if we get a rainy morning, we might get 100, we are hoping for big numbers, it would be nice to see.

“We have a good local community around and I think a lot of them are excited, albeit some of them have been around already, they will get to really come and see the place in full.”
  

While Sizing John may not be there this time, many of the Harrington family’s top talents from both flat and national hunt racing will be on the gallops, while many of the top jockeys will also be present.

“We’ll have a lot of horses going out, we’ll have a lot of our flat stars and a couple of our National Hunt stars, as well as a few young horses and we will showcase our gallops.

“Sprewell will be there and then the likes of Sounds of Heaven, Ashdale Bob, They Very Man and a lot of exciting young horses.

“We have got three unique gallops, we have got a circular four furlong gallop, a four furlong up a hill and a seven furlong gallop witha gradual climb.

“Then there is the grass gallop on the inside too, so I am excited to show those all off.

“We will have a lot going on, mum will do a talk with everyone and run through questions and answers and we will have a few of our horses parading, we might have a few young stars parading and we will have a demonstration from our farrier, Sean Bracken and also Anna Flaherty doing a physio demonstration.

“We will also have one from our feed company, they will also be there to answer any questions about horses nutrition or if anyone is interested in what horses eat, we will be showcasing all of that too.”

As ever the day is about showcasing the yard to intrigued members of the local community, but there is always the possibility of getting involved in the project yourself, with Harrington always on the look out for new syndicates and ownership

She continued: “Yearling sales are just around the corner, we will be advertising anyone who wants to be part of the action, anyone who wants to join the fun for next year.

“We have a few syndicates we run alongside ourselves - Alpha racing and Omega racing and then we also have people from the Irish National Stud Syndicates racing and anyone who wants to get involved in any of them will indeed become a partner with a quarter share or even if they wanted to buy a whole horse.

“We will be there to talk about that and what level you would like to get involved with us. We are open to all avenues.