During his glittering National Hunt career, Sizing John won nine of his 21 races and amassed £776,806 in prize money. But during the past two weeks, following his retirement from the track in September 2020, the 13-year-old has enjoyed a winning start to a career in the show ring.
While racing, Sizing John was trained by Jessica Harrington and he is now being ridden by her daughter Kate Harrington to showing success. The pair won the first Treo Eile-sponsored Tattersalls Ireland showing pathway series competition at Sceilig Showing Festival in Cork, Ireland on 20 May before following up with another victory in the same series on 4 June.
“He is much better to ride at show than at home as he has always had it in him to whip round suddenly, buck you off or take off snorting trotting past something he has been past hundreds of times,” laughs Kate. “His character now is very similar to when he was racing – he could play about at home, but as soon as he was at the races, he was very professional.”
Kate says that Sizing John has taken showing “in his stride”.
“He loves the attention, although he did find the pony classes fascinating as I’m not sure he knew what they were! But he truly loves it.”
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Sizing John completed the rare treble of winning the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Punchestown Gold Cup in 2017, when he was ridden by Robbie Power, brother to Esib. He was retired from racing due to niggling injuries in the latter part of his career.
“The issues were different each time and it took 18 months for him to come back after his last injury in 2020,” explains Kate. “I rode him at home throughout his racing career so I know him very well. Although I could have brought him back into work sooner, I just knew he wasn’t quite 110%, so I decided to give him longer than he needed. Then one day I saw him galloping and bucking around the field and thought ‘ah, I think he’s ready to come back into work!’”
Sizing John ridden by Robbie Power on their way to victory in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup on the final day of the 2017 Cheltenham Festival
Sizing John has always been a beautiful mover, as well as an extremely good-looking horse, and the basics of working properly on the flat are instilled into Jessica Harrington-trained racehorses – “so the basics were there,” says Kate, who keeps him with Irish event rider Elizabeth (Esib) Power up the road from Jessica’s yard on the Co. Kildare/Co. Wicklow border in Ireland.
“I tried to retrain him at home, but it was too close to his days as a racehorse, so I moved him to Sib’s,” says Kate, who has taken on more work with her mother’s business owing to Jessica’s breast cancer diagnosis in October 2022, which she continues to receive treatment for. “Esib has done a great job with Sizing John – I manage to ride him once or twice a week as I’m so busy at home at the moment.”
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Sizing John had something of a rematch at his latest show when taking on the likes of Douvan and Super Sundae, who were also great National Hunt horses prior to their retirements from the track. Sizing John never managed to beat Douvan, who was trained by Willie Mullins, during his career, but that has now changed.
“I called Patrick Mullins [a top National Hunt jockey and son of Willie] en-route to the show asking if Sizing John could finally beat Douvan,” laughs Kate. “And he did!”
After a lot of failed attempts, Sizing John finally beats Douvan!!!!!#tattersalls #treoeile pic.twitter.com/5SKtXxFAQw
— Robbie "Puppy" Power (@Robbie_Power_) June 4, 2023
Kate says that she would love to qualify Sizing John for the racehorse to riding horse class at the prestigious Dublin Horse Show in August.
“If he stays sound, I would love to event him as I think he would be amazing to ride across country,” she says.
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