Legendary trainer John Oxx's historic Currabeg Stables played host to the launch of the 2019 Irish Flat season on Wednesday afternoon. Naas kicks the season off in style at 1:30 p.m. on Mar. 24, with the €100,000 Tote Irish Lincolnshire boasting the largest purse of the eight-race card. Also contested Sunday are the €77,500 G3 Lodge Park Stud Irish EBF Park Express S., the €50,000 Naas Racecourse Business Club Madrid H. and the €45,000 Listed Devoy S. The Curragh's two-year redevelopment project will be unveiled on May 6, while the official opening will be the three-day Curragh Spring Festival from May 24-26 featuring the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas, G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas and the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.
Irish highweight 2-year-old filly Skitter Scatter (Scat Daddy), who won the G1 Moyglare Stud S., G2 Debutante S. and G3 Silver Flash S. during her juvenile campaign, is a new addition to Oxx's string for owners Anthony and Mrs. Sonia Rogers. She is a leading fancy for the 1000 Guineas. Oxx and Skitter Scatter's former trainer Patrick Prendergast joined forces in early January.
“She was constantly underrated by people last year and kept improving,” said Oxx during the launch. “She improved again when she was stretched out in distance, and it remains to be seen how she will train on. She doesn't require a lot of work and we haven't pressed her hard yet. I hope to have her ready to have her first run in the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket. She's plenty big enough, but the worry is that other horses are going to progress more than her. She has a big heart and a good temperament, which will carry her a long way. In the Moyglare she looked beat at halfway on soft ground, but in the end won easily. Her relaxed style will help her get a mile, and you wouldn't expect her to get any more than that.”
“We have so much to look forward to in the season ahead and it is fitting that we launch today only a stone's throw from The Curragh Racecourse where the finishing touches are being made ahead of their first fixture on Bank Holiday Monday, May 6,” said Horse Racing Ireland CEO Brian Kavanagh. “That day will whet the appetite for the newly-formed three-day Curragh Spring Festival featuring the first Irish Classics of the season later that month. I am delighted that we have been able to increase prizemoney once again for this coming Flat season which looks like being as competitive as ever. I would like to wish all owners, trainers and riders all the very best for the season ahead.”
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