By Brian Sheerin
Share prices in Jessica Harrington's Givemethebeatboys (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}), a leading G2 Coventry S. contender, took a spike on Thursday with the news that legendary jockey Frankie Dettori would take the ride on the colt at Royal Ascot on Tuesday.
Givemethebeatboys, a gritty winner of the G3 Marble Hill S. at the Curragh when last seen, will be offered up for sale by his owner Con Marnane at the Goffs London Sale on the eve of the race.
He is not the only horse that Marnane and Harrington will offer at the sale–Supersonic Man (Ire), another Bungle Inthejungle colt, who will be aimed at the Norfolk or Windsor Castle, will also go under the hammer.
Both colts would have been ridden by Harrington's stable jockey Shane Foley had he not suffered a broken collarbone at Gowran Park earlier this month.
Foley described himself as “gutted” when revealing that he was facing a six-week layoff due to the injury last week and, when relaying that Dettori had been booked to ride Givemethebeatboys on Thursday morning, Harrington acknowledged that missing one of the biggest meetings of the year would be a tough pill for her regular rider to swallow.
Harrington said, “We've got Frankie to ride Givemethebeatboys. It's great. Listen, if he thinks the horse is good enough for him to ride in a race like the Coventry, that's absolutely fantastic news for us.”
She added, “It's going to be very tough for Shane. He's missed winners already and, you know, the first thing he said to me when he broke his collarbone was, 'there's my championship gone.' That was the first thing.
“But look, it could have been a lot worse. He's doing well and he comes to see the horse work. I know that it must be very hard on him but he is great and is a key cog in the wheel. He's coming over for the sale on Monday.”
A thrilling renewal of the Group 3 GAIN Marble Hill Stakes sees Givemethebeatboys run out a narrow winner as the colt makes it two wins from two in the hands of Shane Foley for the in-form @jessica_racing team 🥇 pic.twitter.com/R8xa4w88QS
— The Curragh Racecourse (@curraghrace) May 27, 2023
Marnane couldn't hide his delight about securing Dettori for the colt he sourced for just €11,000 at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale. Speaking ahead of a feature interview with TDN Europe that will be published in Saturday's edition, Marnane labelled Givemethebeatboys as “a very special horse” and one who “has a serious chance” in the Coventry before echoing Harrington's sentiments about Foley.
He said, “We're delighted to have been able to secure Frankie–he knows a thing or two about Ascot, doesn't he? It's very tough on Shane, though, as he's been brilliant on the horse in his two starts to date. Let's hope we can provide everyone with something to shout about next week.”
Givemethebeatboys came through his final piece of work on Thursday morning with flying colours, according to Harrington, who revealed that she has a team of 10 or 12 horses to run next week.
She said, “Givemethebeatboys worked this morning and he worked great. Couldn't be better. Everyone seems to be very happy with him. I think we've got 10 to 12 runners for Royal Ascot depending on who gets into what. That's a very big team for me.”
Asked to nominate what horses she was most looking forward to running along with Givemethebeatboys, Harrington, who will be in attendance, replied, “Well I'm looking forward to running Irish Lullaby if she gets into the Copper Horse Handicap. Then I've got Sounds Of Heaven and Village Voice at the end of the week, not to mention Ocean Quest. It's a nice team.
“I'm feeling great at the moment. Hopefully everything goes well and I will be there for the sale on Monday and for the racing on Tuesday. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. It all depends on how I am. It would be something else if the horse was to run a big race on Tuesday.”
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